SCOTLAND

Human Trafficking

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the First Minister on levels of cross-border human trafficking.

David Mundell: The UK Government continue to work closely with the Scottish Government on this tissue. The Scottish Government are involved in ongoing work to combat human trafficking issues across the United Kingdom, through the Government's Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group.

Bank Lending

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent assessment he has made of levels of bank lending to small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Moore: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), told the House that the coalition Government have agreed that the major banks will increase lending to small and medium-sized businesses by £10 billion this year. This deal could unlock additional lending of around £800 million for small businesses in Scotland.

WALES

Departmental Procurement

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many procurement projects with a monetary value greater than  (a) £10 million,  (b) £50 million and  (c) £100 million her Department was engaged upon in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Jones: None.

Departmental Procurement

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which procurement projects engaged upon by her Department had a designated senior responsible owner in the latest period for which figures are available; and on what date they were appointed in each such case.

David Jones: The Wales Office obtains its services through the Ministry of Justice and consequently does not undertake procurement projects.

Future Jobs Fund: Wales

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment her Department has  (a) made and  (b) commissioned from other Departments of the performance of the Future Jobs Fund in Wales.

David Jones: Policy on the Future Jobs Fund is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. The coalition Government assessed that the £1 billion fund, which was always designed to be a temporary measure, was an expensive short-term fix to get young people off the benefits register by creating temporary short-term jobs. Grants do not include any incentives to move people into permanent jobs.
	This Government have decided to focus instead on getting people back into permanent employment rather than providing temporary, public-funded work placements, by investing instead in long-term sustainable apprenticeship opportunities across all sectors.

Housing Benefit: Wales

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment her Department has  (a) made and  (b) commissioned from other Departments on the effect on recipients in Wales of changes to housing benefit.

David Jones: The Secretary of State for Wales has raised with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions the issue of the estimated impact on recipients in Wales of the range of measures included in the Welfare Reform Bill. My Department has also discussed with the Department for Work and Pensions the specific changes to housing benefit coming into effect in April 2011.
	Specific information about the impact of changes to housing benefit as a result of the Welfare Reform Bill is available in the impact assessments produced for the Bill. Where estimates are available this includes the estimated number of claimants in Wales affected. The impact assessments are available at the following link:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/legislation-and-key-documents/welfare-reform-bill-2011/
	Information on the estimated impact in Wales of changes to the local housing allowance coming into effect in April 2011 is also available in the impact assessments available at the following link:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/lha-impact-nov10.pdf

Unemployment: Young People

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment her Department has  (a) made and  (b) commissioned from other Departments on trends in the level of youth unemployment in Wales.

David Jones: Statistics on the labour market situation in Wales are published monthly by the Office for National Statistics. The latest data for January 2011 show there are 24,600 young people aged 18 to 24 claiming jobseekers allowance in Wales. This is a fall of 3,600 or 12.6% compared to a year ago. By comparison, youth unemployment levels in Wales increased by around 30% from Q2 1997 to Q2 2010.
	This Government remain extremely concerned about youth unemployment and are determined to deal with their legacy in Wales. Our approach is to ensure that young unemployed people get the personalised help they need to find permanent jobs. As part of our reform of the welfare system we are introducing a number of measures to support young people to find employment. Jobcentre Plus local offices are being given more control to allow them to deliver a more personalised service in a way that is more responsive to local needs. Under the Work Programme, providers will be free to design support based on the needs of individuals and target the right support at the right time. Both Jobcentre Plus and Work Programme providers will work with local public, private, and third sector organisations where this delivers the best job outcomes for individuals.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Private Members' Bills

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Leader of the House what plans he has to announce proposed dates of Fridays after 17 June 2011 on which Private Members' Bills may have precedence; and if he will make a statement.

George Young: The Government will bring forward a motion to increase the number of sitting Fridays in due course.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011.

Owen Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office paid 98% in January 2011 and 99% in February 2011 of undisputed invoices to suppliers within 10 days of receipt.

Departmental Leaseback Arrangements

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Owen Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office has sold no assets for leaseback over the last 12 months.

Fuels: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on  (a) the cost of fuel in Northern Ireland and  (b) the introduction of a fuel price stabiliser.

Owen Paterson: Northern Ireland Ministers, the Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office, the right hon. Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) and I met with the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, the hon. Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Gauke), last month where these matters were discussed.

JUSTICE

Departmental Expenditure

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what expenditure  (a) his Department and  (b) each public body sponsored by his Department incurred on engaging external audit services in each of the last three years; and to which service providers such payments were made in each year.

Kenneth Clarke: All external audit services are provided by the National Audit Office, except where indicated otherwise.
	The following information is from the consolidated(1) resource accounts for the MoJ and specified Executive agencies and associated offices:
	
		
			  £ 
			   2009-10  2008-09  2007-08 
			 MoJ 1,557,000 1,796,000 1,411,000 
		
	
	
		
			  Non-departmental public bodies 
			  £ 
			  Public body  2009-10  2008-09  2007-08 
			 Criminal Cases Review Commission 27,000 21,000 16,000 
			 Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority 82,000 81,000 73,000 
			 HM Prison Service (3)- (3)- 190,000 
			 Judicial Appointments Commission 38,000 37,000 38,000 
			 Legal Services Board 21,000 15,000 (4)- 
			 Legal Services Commission 353,000 250,000 157,000 
			 Offices of Court Funds (3)- (3)- (3)- 
			 Office of the Information Commissioner 33,500 29,500 24,000 
			 Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman 11,500 11,000 10,500 
			 Office for Legal Complaints 28.000 (5)- (5)- 
			 Official Solicitor and Public Trustee (3)- (3)- (3)- 
			 Parole Board 21,000 20,500 17,000 
			 Probation Service(2) (6)1,530,000 (6)1,520,000 (6)1,480,000 
			 Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 42,000 42,000 42,000 
			 (1) Her Majesty's Courts Service, the Tribunals Service, the Office of the Public Guardian (formerly the Public Guardian's Office) and the National Offender Management Service, Court Funds Office, Official Solicitor and Public Trustee, Office of the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, HM Inspectorate of Courts Administration, Inspectorate of Prisons, Inspectorate of Probation, Assessor for Compensation for Miscarriages of Justice, Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council, Office of the Judge Advocate General, Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman, Office for Judicial Complaints, Directorate of Judicial Offices for England and Wales, the Boundary Commission and the Law Commission. (2) There are 42 Probation Boards and Trusts across England and Wales. Their figures have been combined. (3) Part of the consolidated accounts. (4) Did not exist. (5) Agency did not exist. (6) For 2009-10 the following audit services were used by the Probation Boards/Trusts: The Audit Commission audited 29 Probation Boards/Trusts Welsh Audit Office audited four Probation Boards/Trusts Deloitte audited three Probation Boards/Trusts KPMG audited three Probation Boards/Trusts PricewaterhouseCoopers audited three Probation Boards/Trusts For 2008-09 the following audit services were used by the Probation Boards/Trusts: Audit Commission: 29 Probation Boards/Trusts Deloitte: Three Probation Boards/Trusts KPMG: Three Probation Boards/Trusts PricewaterhouseCoopers: Three Probation Boards/Trusts Welsh Audit Office: Four Probation Boards/Trusts 
		
	
	The data on audit services used by the Probation Boards/Trusts in 2007-08 is not held centrally and would incur disproportionate costs to gather from local offices.
	The cost of external and internal audits is included in the annual accounts of each Government Department and associated body.

Departmental Procurement

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to the public purse was of the  (a) procurement and  (b) outsourcing function of (i) his Department, (ii) other Departments in respect of which his Department manages those functions and (iii) each (A) agency and (B) non-departmental public body for which he is responsible in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Kenneth Clarke: The Cabinet Office has published procurement costs of all Government Departments for 2009-10 at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/back-office-benchmark-information-200910
	MoJ HQ and its executive agencies(1) have a shared services procurement function. Any outsourcing for MoJ HQ and the executive agencies would be handled by the procurement team. In the financial year 2009-10, the procurement function (staff and operating costs) for MoJ and its executive agencies cost £13.3 million.
	The NDPBs' costs were as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
			  NDPB  Procurement cost  Outsourcing cost 
			 Criminal Cases Review Commission 0 0 
			 Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (2)0 (2)0 
			 Information Commissioner's Office 20,294 0 
			 Judicial Appointments Commission 0 0 
			 Legal Services Board 0 0 
			 Legal Services Commission 781,658 0 
			 Office for Legal Complaints 0 0 
			 Parole Board 0 0 
			 Youth Justice Board 88,000 0 
		
	
	Other Departments the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor has jurisdiction over:
	
		
			  £ 
			  NDPB  Procurement cost  Outsourcing cost 
			 The Land Registry 1,048,633 255,614 
			 The National Archives 191,783 0 
			 (1) The executive agencies are Her Majesty's Courts Service, the Tribunals Service, the Office of the Public Guardian and the National Offender Management Service. (2) CICA does not have a procurement department. Two staff have procurement responsibilities as part of their overall job descriptions. One Band B is expected to give approximately 20% of their time to procurement related tasks, one Band D is expected to give approximately 10% of their time to procurement related tasks.  Note: The Cabinet Office lists The National Archives and The Land Registry as being in the MoJ-they are separate organisations with their own funding arrangements.

Legal Aid Scheme: Bolton

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in  (a) Bolton South East constituency and  (b) Bolton received legal aid in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is responsible for administering the legal aid scheme in England and Wales. The LSC does not record the number of people who receive legal aid, but instead records the number of 'acts of assistance'. One individual may receive a number of separate acts of assistance, and one act of assistance can help more than one person.
	The tables show the volumes of legal aid granted in each of the last five years based on legal aid providers with postcodes falling within  (a) Bolton South East constituency and  (b) the local authority area of Bolton.
	The figures do not include legal aid received via telephone advice, Community Legal Advice Centres, the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme, telephone triage, or family mediation. These figures are not available on a regional basis.
	
		
			  Bolton South East constituency-Legal  aid volumes 
			  Thousand 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Civil Representation certificates issued 0.82 0.85 0.88 0.90 0.93 
			 Legal Help New Matter Starts in Civil and Immigration 2.32 3.51 3.84 4.18 4.52 
			 Crime Lower claim volumes 7.28 7.09 6.48 6.79 6.26 
			 Crime Higher case volumes 0.81 0.83 0.83 0.89 0.79 
			 Total 11.23 12.29 12.05 12.76 12.50 
		
	
	
		
			  Bolton-Legal  aid volumes 
			  Thousand 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Civil Representation certificates issued 0.92 0.97 0.97 0.98 1.03 
			 Legal Help New Matter Starts in Civil and Immigration 2.57 3.86 4.11 4.42 4.85 
			 Crime Lower claim volumes 7.46 7.27 6.67 6.95 6.41 
			 Crime Higher case volumes 0.83 0.86 0.86 0.92 0.81 
			 Total 11.77 12.96 12.60 13.26 13.10

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service: Manpower

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  how many people the Crown Prosecution Service expects to employ  (a) at the end of March 2011 and  (b) at the end of each subsequent financial year in the comprehensive spending review period;
	(2)  how many people the Crown Prosecution Service expects to employ as  (a) prosecutors and  (b) caseworkers and administrators supporting frontline prosecutions at (i) the end of March 2011 and (ii) the end of each subsequent financial year in the comprehensive spending review period;
	(3)  how many prosecutors the Crown Prosecution Service expects to employ who are  (a) able to appear in the Crown court and higher courts and  (b) able to present cases in magistrates court at (i) at the end of March 2011 and (ii) the end of each subsequent financial year in the comprehensive spending review period.

Edward Garnier: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has not finalised its workforce plans for the comprehensive spending review period. Each CPS group and division is currently undertaking a more detailed planning exercise which is expected to be completed in May 2011.

Departmental Procurement

Dominic Raab: To ask the Attorney-General what the cost to the public purse was of the  (a) procurement and  (b) outsourcing function of (i) the Law Officers' Departments and (ii) the (A) agency and (B) other non-ministerial departments for which he is responsible in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Edward Garnier: Information on the procurement function costs for the Law Officers' Departments in the last full financial year are contained in the following table.
	
		
			  Department  Recorded procurement function costs 2009-10 (£) 
			 Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) (1)692,087 
			 Serious Fraud Office (SFO) 125,903 
			 Treasury Solicitors Department (TSol)(2) 102,430 
			 National Fraud Authority 4,857 
			 (1 )Data covers cost of the CPS central procurement team. Some minor procurement activity is carried out at local offices, but the associated costs could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. (2 )The procurement section at TSol provides procurement/outsourcing services to TSol, AGO and HMCPSI. Neither AGO nor HMCPSI have dedicated procurement/outsourcing personnel. 
		
	
	None of the Law Officers' Departments currently operate any outsourcing function for procurement.

Departmental Redundancy

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General how much the Crown Prosecution Service has spent in 2010-11 to date on redundancy costs.

Edward Garnier: In the nine months to December 2010, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has spent a total of £2.5 million on the voluntary early retirement and voluntary early severance costs of staff leaving the Department in 2010-11. The CPS has followed a policy of voluntary early release in achieving staff reductions.

Departmental Redundancy

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  how many people the Crown Prosecution Service expects to make redundant in each Crown Prosecution area in 2010-11; and from what roles he expects staff to be made redundant;
	(2)  how many people the Crown Prosecution Service has made redundant in each Crown Prosecution Service area in 2010-11 to date; and from what roles staff have been made redundant.

Edward Garnier: In 2010-11 a voluntary early release (VER) scheme was launched for headquarters functions. It is anticipated that between 60 and 90 staff will be released on voluntary terms by end of March 2011.
	An additional 30 people who were employed in a mixture of management and administrative roles have already left the Department earlier in the financial year on a voluntary basis. Three people have been released from east midlands, one from Yorkshire and Humberside, one from Wales and one from the south-east. The remaining 24 staff have been released from London headquarters.

Departmental Redundancy

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General how many people the Crown Prosecution Service expects to make  (a) voluntarily and  (b) compulsorily redundant in 2010-11.

Edward Garnier: The CPS expects between 90 and 120 staff to leave the Department under a voluntary early release scheme this financial year. The CPS does not expect to make any compulsory redundancies in this period.

Departmental Redundancy

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General how much funding the Crown Prosecution Service allocated to meet redundancy costs in 2010-11.

Edward Garnier: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has currently allocated £6 million to meet the voluntary early release costs of staff leaving the department in 2011. The CPS has adhered to its policy of releasing staff on a voluntary basis and intends to maintain this policy in 2010-11.

Departmental Redundancy

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  how many people the Crown Prosecution Service expects to make redundant in each Crown Prosecution area in each financial year from 2011-12 to 2014-15; and from what roles staff are expected to be made redundant;
	(2)  how many people the Crown Prosecution Service expects to make  (a) voluntarily and  (b) compulsorily redundant in each financial year from 2011-12 to 2014-15.

Edward Garnier: Initial planning indicates that CPS will need to reduce staffing levels by 530 in 2011-12, 390 in 2012-13, 310 in 2013-14 and 220 in 2014-15 to achieve the required workforce reductions for financial year 2014-15. The CPS is committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies, and these reductions will be achieved through not filling vacancies that arise through normal staff turnover and the application of voluntary early release schemes in the first three years of the comprehensive spending review period. The CPS anticipates that there will be reductions in all grades of staff

Departmental Redundancy

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General how much funding has been allocated by the Crown Prosecution Service to meet redundancy costs in each financial year from 2011-12 to 2014-15.

Edward Garnier: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has allocated £14 million to meet the voluntary early release costs of staff in 2011-12.
	Decisions on the detailed allocation of budgets for the years beyond 2011-12 have yet to be taken. For financial planning purposes the current highest estimate for the costs of early departure for the CPS is £40 million resource over the spending review period. The figure could reduce significantly if additional savings are achieved in other areas of expenditure or if staff turnover is higher than forecast.

Electronic Case Files

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  what recent progress has been made by the Crown Prosecution Service in developing a full electronic case file system; and when he expects full electronic case files to be fully operational;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with  (a) the Secretary of State for the Home Department,  (b) the Secretary of State for Justice and  (c) the Law Society on the development of a full electronic case file system by the Crown Prosecution Service; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Garnier: The Law Officers meet regularly with Ministers at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, as well as the President of the Law Society to discuss a range of issues.
	Methods of digital working, including the use of the electronic case file, are being developed and tested at a number of sites across England and Wales. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) aims to make widespread use of the electronic case file from April 2012 onwards.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Departmental Energy

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has to install  (a) solar panels or  (b) renewable heat technologies on buildings occupied by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Department only has authority over one building, 3 Whitehall Place in London. There are no current plans to install solar panels or renewable heat technologies on this site. However, we are keeping this under review.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects his Department to meet the Government's commitment to source food that meets British or equivalent standards of production.

Gregory Barker: It is a Government commitment to ensure that food procured by Government Departments, and eventually the whole public sector, meets British standards of production wherever this can be achieved without increasing overall costs.
	DECC's catering services are provided through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). DEFRA are introducing Government Buying Standards (GBS) for food and catering, which will be mandatory for central Government Departments and executive agencies and promoted to the wider public sector. The external review of the proposed GBS criteria ended on 24 January and DEFRA are taking account of all the responses before we finalise the standards this month.
	DEFRA also published new guidance in January to help ensure that Government Departments and executive agencies source food meeting British or equivalent standards of production, subject to no overall increase in costs.

Departmental Food

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what method his Department uses to calculate food miles incurred by food sold in its refreshment outlets.

Gregory Barker: The Department does not calculate food miles incurred by food sold by the catering service providers on the DECC estate. However, our caterers, BaxterStorey, do offer a sustainable catering service, with a focus on fresh, local and seasonal produce. All meat, eggs and milk used are produced in the UK, and the frequency of deliveries is minimised

Departmental Marketing

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many  (a) press officers,  (b) marketing officers,  (c) speech writers,  (d) website managers and  (e) other communications and marketing staff his Department directly employs.

Gregory Barker: As at 8 March 2011, DECC employed six press officers, five marketing officers, two speechwriters, four website managers and five other members of the Government Communications Network working across a range of disciplines.

Departmental Travel

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department takes to encourage carbon off-setting for air travel undertaken by its Ministers and officials; and what scheme it uses.

Gregory Barker: The Department offsets all of its ministerial and official air travel through the Government Carbon Offsetting Facility (GCOF).
	Information on GCOF can be found on the DECC website:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/co2_offsetting/gov_offsetting/gov_offsetling.aspx

Electricity Generation

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the likely effects on industrial electricity prices of his proposals for electricity market reform; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: On 16 December, Government launched consultations on a package of options for reforming the electricity market. The preferred package is to have a 'contract for difference' model for supporting low-carbon generation in combination with a targeted capacity mechanism, carbon price support and an emissions performance standard. Due to the high upfront costs and low running costs nature of most low carbon generating plant, the preferred package may increase business electricity prices and bills in the near term, but from the mid 2020s onwards prices are expected to be lower than they otherwise would be. Please see following table.
	
		
			   Impact of the preferred electricity market reform package on industrial electricity prices (percentage) 
			 2010 0 
			 2011-15 1 
			 2016-20 3 
			 2021-25 7 
			 2026-30 -5 
		
	
	Government are aware of industry concerns about competitiveness impacts from climate change and energy policies, particularly for those industries that use the most energy. This is why BIS and DECC are working together on the Energy Intensive Industry Strategy which aims to maximise greenhouse gas reductions in these sectors while ensuring their future competitiveness. The strategy will include analysis of the estimated energy price and bill impacts for illustrative energy intensive users. Findings of this analysis will be published in spring.

Electricity Generation: Northern Ireland

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on electricity market reform.

Charles Hendry: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and DECC Ministers have regular meetings with Ministers in the devolved Administration of Northern Ireland on a variety of topics.
	The Electricity Market Reform team within DECC has had a number of contacts with Northern Ireland officials (from DETI-NI and the Northern Ireland utilities regulator) and has presented and fielded questions at a stakeholder event arranged by DETI on 24 February 2011 in Belfast.

Energy: Housing

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the  (a) minimum and  (b) maximum rate of interest that will be set on Green Deal finance loans.

Gregory Barker: holding answer 7 March 2011
	It is not possible to make a reliable estimate of the likely commercial interest rate which will be offered to Green Deal customers at this stage. We are working with the finance industry to ensure that the design of the scheme is robust enough to secure the most efficient types of financing, which in turn, will drive down the cost. The Green Deal is a market mechanism and therefore it is not appropriate for government to dictate the interest rate. We may however, set out permissible financial terms in secondary legislation to ensure consumer protection, and will be considering whether these should place controls on the structure of interest rates which can be applied to Green Deal plans.
	In addition, we are working to ensure a competitive Green Deal market-this should put downward pressure on prices and leave little room for profiteering.

Energy: Private Rented Housing

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consideration he has given to the merits of  (a) producing a timetable introducing minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector above F or G levels from 2016 and  (b) the introduction of a more stringent enforcement regime with higher financial penalties.

Gregory Barker: The powers we are proposing in the Energy Bill will require domestic landlords to honour reasonable requests from their tenants for energy efficiency improvements, and will require local authorities to insist that landlords improve the worst performing homes. Our intention is that this local authority enforcement would be targeted at F and G properties from 2015, if we do not see voluntarily improvement under the Green Deal. We are not currently pursuing a minimum energy efficiency standard in the private rented sector.
	Under these plans, non-compliant landlords could be fined up to £5,000. This is in line with the current fine local authorities can place on landlords who rent out hazardous sub standard property (under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System).

Feed-in Tariffs

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on feed-in tariff payments to date; and how much it expects to spend in the first year of the scheme's operation.

Gregory Barker: This information is not currently available in the form requested. However, Ofgem has published data from the quarterly levelisation process which show a total of £2,686,712.55 paid for all technologies up to 30 September 2010. Levelisation data can be viewed at:
	www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/Levelisation/Pages/Levelisation.aspx
	Levelisation data for 1 October to 31 December 2010 will be made available on Ofgem's website soon.
	Details of the expected costs of the feed-in tariffs (FITs) scheme were published under the previous Administration in February 2010. However, details on level of projections of all eligible technologies under the scheme were sent to all electricity suppliers at the start of the scheme. This information was also provided in response to specific requests and used in meetings with stakeholders.
	A copy of the projections can be found in the Libraries of the House.

Pay

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to ensure that his published departmental organisational chart includes the names and responsibilities of all staff paid over £58,200 per annum in his Department and in the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible.

Gregory Barker: The coalition Government are committed to improving transparency and the Coalition programme includes commitments to publish salary information for the most senior civil servants and to publish organograms for the entire organisation.
	As a first step, the Government published the details of 345 senior officials in departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies in post at 31 March 2010 whose rate of pay was £150,000 or more. Publication of name, job title and base salary details was then extended to some lower levels of the senior civil service (SCS) as part of the organograms that were published last October.
	Although individualised salary details for the most junior level of the SCS (Pay Bands 1 and 1A) were not released, the numbers and grades of staff in each of their teams and the total salary costs of that team were published. Organograms will next be updated by the end of May to show structures as at 31 March 2011.
	Good progress is being made across the civil service and beyond in improving transparency of how Government works and uses its resources. We are now in a period of consolidating and embedding transparency processes into business as usual. We are always looking to go further and we will continue over the coming months to review, and where necessary improve, the quality and extent of data being released.

Social Enterprises: Cooperatives

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of goods and services supplied directly to his Department were sourced from  (a) social enterprises,  (b) mutuals and  (c) co-operatives in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gregory Barker: This information cannot be identified from the Department's payment records.

Solar Photovoltaic Sector: Brighton

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the size of the solar photovoltaic market in  (a) the Brighton and Hove area,  (b) East and West Sussex and  (c) the UK; what estimate he has made of the proportion of the global market the UK market represents; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Department does not have estimates for the size of the solar PV market for the areas requested. Under the low carbon buildings programme, 1,562 grants were provided in south-east England for solar PV technology, of which, 283 were in East and West Sussex. Of these, 23 were in Brighton.
	While the solar PV market in the UK is growing it is remains relatively small in comparison to the global size of the market.

Solar Photovoltaic Sector: Brighton

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his Department's review of feed-in tariffs on plans for the installation of solar panels on publicly-owned buildings; and whether he has received representations on the matter from the Leader of Brighton and Hove city council.

Gregory Barker: The full range of impacts of changes that are proposed from the review of feed-in tariffs (FITs) will be subject to an impact assessment. I am not aware of any representations received by the Secretary of State from the Leader of Brighton and Hove council.

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the level of each tariff for solar photovoltaics is to be considered under the fast-track review announced on 7 February 2011.

Gregory Barker: On 7 February 2011, the Secretary of State announced the comprehensive review of the feed-in tariffs (FITs) scheme. That review will include fast-track consideration of solar photovoltaics (PV) installations over 50kW.
	The fast-track consultation will be launched later this month.

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many representations his Department has received on the fast-track review of feed-in tariffs for large scale solar photovoltaics.

Gregory Barker: The Department has received several representations on the fast track review of feed-in tariffs for large scale solar photovoltaics. Detailed information on these representations will be provided as part of the consultation on this issue.

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the contribution of small-scale photovoltaic projects to community projects; if he will exclude such projects from the scope of his review of feed-in tariffs; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The Department of Energy and Climate Change is undertaking analysis of all aspects of feed-in tariffs as part of the first comprehensive review of the scheme which commenced on 7 February. Detailed proposals on the fast-track element of the review are being worked up and we intend to publish them for consultation later this month.

Third Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what account he has taken of the Compact between the Government and Civil Society in policy development.

Gregory Barker: The Compact between this coalition Government and civil society organisations was agreed and launched on 16 December 2010. It was accompanied by guidance on accountability and transparency for the first time, ensuring that Government Departments as well as civil society organisations are clear about the level of commitment and the implications for not following the Compact. The Cabinet Office considers policy that is relevant to civil society organisations from a Compact perspective, ensuring that it is adhered to, and where it is not possible for whatever reason, that this is explained to the sector in an open and transparent manner.

Third Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department has taken to support the big society initiative.

Gregory Barker: The big society is more than a collection of policies-it is an approach which is at the heart of the Government's reforms across all policy areas with the aim of localising power and opening up public services and encouraging social action. Each department has a range of specific programmes which will contribute to growing the Big Society. These policies are coordinated across Government through meetings at official and ministerial level, including the Informal Ministerial Group on the Big Society and Localism, which shares ideas and supports progress on cross cutting-issues relating to the Big Society.
	DECC has several programmes aimed at achieving the Big Society goals of catalysing social action, decentralising power and opening up public services. These include:
	the Low Carbon Communities Challenge-a two year action-research programme for testing localised, community-led models for delivering carbon savings, reducing energy consumption, and fostering social cohesion;
	the community energy online web portal (launched late 2010)-the Portal provides helpful tools and information to enable communities and others to develop local community based energy projects;
	enabling local authorities to sell electricity-a change in legislation (effective from 18 August 2010) was made to allow local authorities to sell electricity they generate themselves from renewable sources; and
	the Green Deal-from late 2012 this will enable private companies, local authorities and civil society organisations to offer energy efficiency improvements to households, communities and businesses at no upfront cost.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Disability Living Allowance: Children

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how parents of a disabled child will be able to acquire the aids and adaptations necessary for the well-being of that child under his proposed reforms to disability living allowance.

Maria Miller: Parents of disabled children may receive additional support for their child, including aids and adaptations, from a variety of sources including the health, social care and education systems. If the child receives disability living allowance, the parent may choose to use the benefit to purchase additional items. DLA will be replaced by personal independence payment from 2013, but it will remain a non-means-tested, non-taxable cash benefit which can be spent according to the priorities of the individual.
	When personal independence payment is introduced from 2013 the reforms will initially apply to the working-age caseload only. We want to use the experience of reassessing the working-age caseload to inform any future decisions on arrangements for children.

Electoral Reform Services

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the monetary value was of contracts his Department placed with Electoral Reform Services Ltd in each year since 2005.

Chris Grayling: DWP has not had any expenditure with Electoral Reform Services from 2005 to date.

Employment Schemes

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what circumstances cited for failing to take part in the training or education mandated by the work programme will be considered reasonable.

Chris Grayling: Work programme providers will be able to require customers to participate in work-related activity, including training or education, in circumstances where the customer's benefit conditionality rules allow this. If a customer fails to participate in work-related activity, they will be given an opportunity to demonstrate good cause. Jobcentre Plus decision makers will come to a view on whether or not a customer has good cause on a case-by-case basis, taking a customer's individual circumstances into account.
	We are currently developing guidance on the types of circumstances which may be considered when judging whether or not a customer has good cause. This guidance will be published prior to the implementation of the work programme.

Employment Schemes

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether individuals who participate in mandatory training or education as part of the work programme or skills conditionality programme will have a maximum course length;
	(2)  whether claimants of jobseeker's allowance or employment and support allowance undertaking mandatory training as part of the work programme or skills conditionality programme will continue to receive their benefit during the course; whether such people will be required to attend job interviews which are timetabled during course commitments; and whether their benefit entitlements will be dependent on the length of their course.

Chris Grayling: Skills conditionality will apply to both jobseeker's allowance claimants and benefit recipients in the work-related activity group of employment and support allowance. People referred to training on a mandatory basis will be subject to the same benefit rules as those engaging in training on a voluntary basis. Skills conditionality is currently being piloted in 11 Jobcentre Plus districts and will apply nationally from August 2011. Mandatory referrals to training may then take place prior to a claimant's entry to the work programme as well as once they are on the work programme.
	The course length will not be prescribed but will depend upon the identified job goals and skills need of the claimant. Before a mandatory referral to training can be made, the college or training provider must have confirmed that they are able and willing to accept the claimant onto an appropriate course. Benefit entitlements will not be dependent on the length of the training course. Units of accredited training will be offered as well as longer courses depending on the skills needs of the individual and those of the local labour market. Claimants will be subject to sanctions for failure to participate but where they can demonstrate good cause they will not be sanctioned.
	Recipients of jobseeker's allowance who take part in part-time training will continue to receive jobseeker's allowance provided they continue to meet the full labour-market requirements and are willing to give up the course if a job opportunity is offered. Courses funded by the Skills Funding Agency, Welsh Assembly Government and Scottish Government are considered to be full-time training where they involve 16 hours or more a week. There is no definition about what constitutes a full- or part-time course where training is funded from other sources-it is for the course provider to determine. Jobseekers who take part in full-time training are moved onto a training allowance and are not subject to jobseeker's allowance conditionality for the duration of their time on the training.
	Recipients of employment and support allowance referred to training by Jobcentre Plus will continue to receive their usual benefit entitlement. In setting the work-related activity for a member of the employment and support allowance work-related activity group, Jobcentre Plus advisers will ensure that the requirements they place on a person are apt and reasonable in their circumstances. Work-related activity may include attending training to address a skills need if this will make it more likely that a customer will obtain or remain in work.

Incapacity Benefit: Medical Examinations

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether an individual appealing against a work capability assessment decision on their ability to work may continue claiming incapacity benefit up to the point at which the appeal is determined.

Chris Grayling: If an incapacity benefit recipient who is found fit for work following a work capability assessment then appeals against the decision, they will receive the assessment phase rate of employment and support allowance during the appeals process. They will no longer receive incapacity benefit.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the number of people not in work who are ineligible for jobseekers' allowance owing to insufficient national insurance contributions.

Chris Grayling: The information requested is not available. The latest information available is in the following table.
	There are two types of jobseeker's allowance. Contribution-based jobseeker's allowance is payable for up to 183 days as long as sufficient national insurance contributions have been paid at the relevant time. Income-based jobseeker's allowance is payable irrespective of the claimant's contribution record but according to the claimant's household income, and can be paid in addition to contribution-based jobseeker's allowance. For both types of the benefit, the claimant must also satisfy statutory conditions of entitlement, such as being available for and actively seeking work.
	
		
			  Jobseeker's allowance claimants: Type of jobseeker's allowance -May 2010 
			  Type of jobseeker's allowance  Total 
			 All 1,354,600 
			 Contribution-based benefit only 205,300 
			 Income-based and contribution-based benefit 21,200 
			 Income-based benefit only 1,010,900 
			 No benefit in payment (credits only) 117,300 
			  Notes: 1. The preferred statistics on benefits are now derived from 100% data sources. However, the 5% sample data still provide some detail not yet available from the100% data sources. DWP recommends that, where the detail is only available on the 5% sample data, the proportions derived should be scaled up to the overall 100% total for the benefit. These figures have been scaled up to the overall total. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 therefore totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. These data were extracted from the Department's tabulation tool at: http://83.244.183.180/5pc/tabtool.html then rated up.  Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) Information Directorate, 5% samples

Jobseeker's Allowance: Mortgages

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of claimants of jobseeker's allowance in  (a) Stockton North constituency and  (b) the UK who (i) were affected by his Department's changes to entitlement to mortgage interest payments and (ii) will be affected over 12 months following the change.

Chris Grayling: The change in the standard interest rate used to calculate support for mortgage interest applies to all customers who receive that help as part of their benefit.
	In May 2010, the latest period for which figures are available, the number of jobseeker's allowance customers in  (a) the Stockton North constituency, and  (b) Great Britain, who were also in receipt of support for mortgage interest, is given in the table.
	No estimate has been made of the number of jobseeker's allowance customers who will be affected over 12 months following the change to the standard interest rate at which support for mortgage interest is paid.
	
		
			  Jobseeker's allowance claimants in receipt of mortgage interest in the Stockton North parliamentary constituency and in Great Britain-May 2010 
			   Jobseeker's allowance claimants receiving mortgage interest 
			 Stockton North *100 
			 Great Britain 34,000 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Figures have been uprated using 5% proportions against 100% Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) totals. 3. Parliamentary constituency of claimants are for the Westminster Parliament of May 2010. 4. Figures are for Great Britain. Northern Ireland statistics are prepared by DSDNI and can be obtained from: www.dsdni.gov.uk 5. Numbers marked "*" are based on very few sample cases and are subject to a high degree of sampling variation.  Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5% samples

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency received support for mortgage interest payments in each of the last five years.

Steve Webb: As requested, the following table presents the total number of claimants, in receipt of either pension credit (PC), income support (IS) or jobseeker's allowance (JSA), receiving support for mortgage interest in Motherwell and Wishaw parliamentary constituency over the last five years.
	
		
			  Total number of claimants of PC, IS, JSA receiving mortgage interest in Motherwell and Wishaw parliamentary constituency 
			  As at May each year  Number 
			 2005 (1)500 
			 2006 600 
			 2007 (1)500 
			 2008 (1)500 
			 2009 (1)500 
			 2010 (1)500 
			 (1) Numbers are based on very few sample cases and are subject to a high degree of sampling variation.  Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Figures are based on 5% sample data. All figures are subject to a degree of sampling variation. 3. Caseload figures have been uprated by using 5% proportions against 100% Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) data. 4. Figures provided are a point in time estimate at May in each year.  Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5% samples.

Poverty: EU Action

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the Commission Communication on The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion: A European framework for social and territorial cohesion, COM(2010) 758 final; what estimate he has made of the cost to the UK of implementing each measure recommended in the Communication; and whether the implementation of any measure recommended in the Communication would involve a transfer of powers from the UK to the EU.

Chris Grayling: The UK Government can agree to the principles that underpin the Platform or the European Commission's aspiration to lift 20 million people out of relative poverty by 2020. These goals are in line with the Government's commitment to freedom, fairness and responsibility. However, our support is contingent on there being no additional resource implications for the UK and upon full respect for the principles of UK competence as provided for in the EU Treaties.
	The Communication represents a high level summary of the Commission's intentions. It is not possible at this stage to determine whether there would be any cost implication arising from the proposals or whether they represent an erosion of member states' powers. As detailed proposals emerge over coming months we will subject them to rigorous scrutiny to ensure that there are no adverse consequences for the UK.

Social Security Benefits

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of households that will be subject to the total cap on benefit entitlement which are currently in social housing.

Steve Webb: If the benefit cap is applied in full, it is estimated that around 70% of those affected by the household cap on total benefit income will be living in social housing.
	The estimated number of households affected by the benefit cap is based on survey data using the Department for Work and Pension's Policy Simulation Model. Small sample sizes for those estimated to be affected mean that further estimating the characteristics of this group are uncertain and should be treated with caution.
	We are currently looking at how we could transitionally protect those particularly adversely affected.
	 Note:
	Percentages have been rounded to the nearest 10%

State Retirement Pensions

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he will estimate the effects on the Exchequer of bringing forward the proposed increase in the state pension age to 67 years old to  (a) 2035 and  (b) 2034;
	(2)  if he will estimate the effects on the Exchequer of bringing forward the proposed increase in the state pension age to 68 years old to  (a) 2045 and  (b) 2046.

Steve Webb: Under existing legislation, the state pension age will increase gradually to 67 between April 2034 and March 2036, and gradually to 68 between April 2044 and March 2046.
	We have interpreted the proposed changes to the increase in the state pension age to 67 as:
	 (a) bringing the change forward by one year so that the state pension age rises gradually to 67 between April 2033 and March 2035. This would result in reduced spending of £6.9 billion, in 2010-11 prices, over the three years from 2033-34 to 2035-36.
	 (b) bringing the change forward by two years so that the state pension age rises gradually to 67 between April 2032 and March 2034. This would result in reduced spending of £13.7 billion, in 2010-11 prices, over the four years from 2032-33 to 2035-36.
	and the proposed changes to the increase in the state pension age to 68 as:
	 (a) bringing the change forward by one year so that the state pension age rises gradually to 68 between April 2043 and March 2045. This would result in reduced spending of £9.1 billion, in 2010-11 prices, over the three years from 2043-44 to 2045-46.
	 (b) bringing the change forward by two years, so that the state pension age rises gradually to 68 between April 2042 and March 2044. This would result in reduced spending of £18.1 billion, in 2010-11 prices, over the four years from 2042-43 to 2045-46.

Unemployed People: Travel

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions his Department has had with Transport for London on the promotion of discounted public transport fares for people in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.

Chris Grayling: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Darra Singh:
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about what discussions our Department has had with Transport for London (TfL) on the promotion of discounted public transport fares for people in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
	TfL provides discounted fares for customers claiming JSA, by providing them with a card giving them a 50% discount on buses and trams.
	It is available across London and promoted through Jobcentre Plus offices at Fortnightly Job Reviews, Adviser interviews and other appropriate opportunities. Programme Providers are also aware of and promote take up of the scheme.
	To be eligible for the card, customers must have been receiving JSA for a minimum of 13 weeks. At this point Jobcentre Plus issues application forms which customers can take to their local post office to receive the discount card.
	This has been a very successful scheme since its introduction in April 2009. By March this year over 173,000 cards had been issued to JSA customers.

Unemployed People: Travel

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information his Department holds on the availability of discounts for bus, train or tram fares provided to recipients of jobseeker's allowance for the purposes of encouraging them to apply for jobs outside their immediate locality.

Chris Grayling: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Darra Singh:
	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information his Department holds on the availability of discounts for bus, train or tram fares provided to recipients of Jobseeker's Allowance for the purposes of encouraging them to apply for jobs outside their immediate locality. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
	Jobcentre Plus has a partnership agreement with the Association of Train Operating Companies, which offers a 50% discount on rail travel in England and Wales to Jobcentre Plus customers who are seeking work or have entered the various New Deal Programmes for lone parents and disadvantaged groups. This agreement has been in place for the last 13 years and has helped a wide range of customers with travel costs. A similar scheme is also in place in Scotland via Scot Rail.
	More locally, other schemes are available such as discounted fares through Oyster Card in London and Centro Partnership in the West Midlands, both of which allow multi use of the card on rail and bus travel. In terms of travel by bus, there is no national agreement, but advisers will signpost people to schemes available locally.
	For those wishing to consider employment outside their immediate locality, we currently have the Travel to Interview Scheme, which helps with the cost of attending interviews considered to be outside the local travel to work area. The scheme does not have a large annual budget, so careful management is required to ensure it helps as many customers as possible each year. In doing so, advisers make awards, taking into account individual circumstances and factors which include making sure the applicant has an established claim to a qualifying benefit, the availability of jobs locally, the distance involved in attending the interview in question and what is considered to be the local travel to work area. Customers must apply for help before attending an interview to check entitlement.
	In delivering a more personalised service from April this year, we are providing District Managers with a flexible support fund, which will subsume a number of current discretionary funds, including the Travel to Interview Scheme. This new fund will be used directly and in partnership with other local organisations to tailor services to individual and local need. Where appropriate, this will include support for people who are looking to travel further a field to look for and take-up work.

Unemployment

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in England aged  (a) 18,  (b) 19,  (c) 20,  (d) 21,  (e) 22,  (f) 23 and  (g) 24 were (i) unemployed according to the International Labour Organisation definition and (ii) unemployed according to the International Labour Organisation definition and not in full-time education in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people in England aged (a) 18, (b) 19, (c) 20, (d) 21, (e) 22, (f) 23 and (g) 24 were (i) unemployed according to the International Labour Organisation definition and (ii) unemployed according to the International Labour Organisation definition and not in full-time education. 43904
	The table provided shows the information requested.
	
		
			  Number of unemployed people aged 18 to 24, by educational status. Three months ending December, 2010. England, not seasonally adjusted 
			  Thousands 
			  Age  Total unemployed  Unemployed and not in full-time education 
			 18 ***90 ***54 
			 19 ***96 ***74 
			 20 ***103 ***85 
			 21 ***86 ***76 
			 22 ***87 ***83 
			 23 ***74 ***70 
			 24 ***64 ***61 
			 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described below:  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV-for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220.  Key: * 0 = CV<5%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV <10%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV <20%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ? 20%-Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation  Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels mobile home sites etc.).  Source: Labour Force Survey

Unemployment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of the effects of unemployment on income inequality.

Chris Grayling: My Department has not made an assessment of the effects of unemployment on income inequality.

PRIME MINISTER

Big Society Initiative

Chris Ruane: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  whether  (a) he and  (b) any staff of his Office are participating in volunteering activity as part of the Government's big society initiative;
	(2)  what steps his Office has taken to support the Government's big society initiative.

David Cameron: My Office is undertaking volunteering activity with two social action partners during 2011.
	The first is with "Blue Sky Development and Regeneration", a non-profit organisation employing ex-offenders in maintenance and recycling businesses to help reduce reoffending rates. The second is with Street League, a charity that delivers sports and educational programmes to tackle issues including homelessness, substance addiction, crime and unemployment.
	For further details I refer the hon. Member to the press notice on the No. 10 website
	http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2010/12/number-10-staff-select-two-charities-to-support-in-2011-58400
	In addition, many members of my Office take part in volunteering activities with a wide range of charities and organisations.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts Council England

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much funding Arts Council England allocated per head of population in  (a) Wolverhampton North East constituency,  (b) Wolverhampton South East constituency,  (c) Wolverhampton South West constituency,  (d) Dudley North constituency,  (e) Dudley South constituency,  (f) Stourbridge constituency and  (g) Halesowen and Rowley Regis constituency in the latest period for which figures are available.

Edward Vaizey: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has not yet published current population and constituency data, therefore, Arts Council England has advised that the figures in the table are approximates based on the most recent available alternative data from the ONS, which is from mid-2007.
	
		
			  Sum of amount awarded 2009-10 
			  £ 
			  Constituency  Grants for the Arts  Regularly funded organisations  Totals  Population( 1)  Funding per head 
			 Dudley North 15,912 0 15,192 79,587 0.20 
			 Dudley South 7,000 51,350 58,350 78,032 0.75 
			 Halesowen and Rowley Regis 49,695 0 49,695 83,563 0.59 
			 Stourbridge 82,008 0 82,008 87,441 0.94 
			 Wolverhampton North East 4,669 0 4,669 83,955 0.06 
			 Wolverhampton South East 5,000 57,326 62,326 84,568 0.74 
			 Wolverhampton South West 177,710 290,257 467,967 81,623 5.73 
			 (1) Figures from 2007

Arts: Brighton and Hove

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the contribution to UK gross domestic product by the arts and creative industries  (a) nationally and  (b) in the Brighton and Hove area; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not hold separate measures of the arts and creative industries contribution to the economy. The contribution of music, performing and visual arts to the economy is measured as part of the DCMS Creative Industries Economic Estimates. We estimate that the contribution of the creative industries to the economy as a whole was 5.6% of gross value added (GVA) in 2008. GVA is the most accurate measure of an industry's contribution to the economy and so this measure is used instead of GDP.
	The Department does not measure or hold data on the contribution of creative industries to the economy at a regional level.

BBC

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with the BBC Trust on the potential effects of BBC online local news content on private sector providers of such news services.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has regular discussions with the BBC Trust on the measures agreed in last year's licence fee settlement including support for local TV.
	At the time of the licence fee settlement, the BBC committed to the principle that the BBC should not launch services which are more local than the BBC's current offerings on radio, the web and television.

British Sky Broadcasting

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent representations he has received on his decision on the News Corp bid for BSkyB; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Hunt: I refer the hon. Member to the Statement I made to the House on 3 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 518-19, setting out that I propose to accept undertakings from News Corporation on their proposed merger with BSkyB. I have launched a consultation as to whether the undertakings in lieu offered by News Corporation are sufficient to remedy, mitigate or prevent the public interest concerns in relation to media plurality raised by this merger. I will consider all representations before reaching a final decision on the undertakings in lieu.

Departmental Pay

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will ensure his departmental organisational chart includes the names and responsibilities of all staff paid over £58,200 per annum in his Department and in the non-departmental public bodies and agencies for which he is responsible.

John Penrose: The level of salary disclosure in our organisational structure charts already helps enable the public to hold the Department to account for its use of public funds. There are no current plans to extend the scope of salary disclosure when structure charts are updated.

Gambling

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he expects the outcomes of the next Gambling Prevalence Survey to be published.

John Penrose: We are currently developing plans on the precise form, funding and timing of the next Gambling Prevalence Survey, working closely with the Gambling Commission.

Languages: Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what progress he has made on meeting his Department's responsibilities regarding Scottish Gaelic for  (a) language maintenance and development under the European Charter for Minority or Indigenous Languages and  (b) broadcasting services in UK languages.

Edward Vaizey: My Department's interests in the UK Government's responsibilities under the Charter relating to Gaelic were taken forward through the arrangements made for the establishment of BBC Alba.

Ofcom: Finance

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport for what reasons Ofcom owes £29.3 million to central Government bodies; what plans there are to recover these funds; and for what reasons such liabilities arose.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 3 March 2011
	Ofcom's 2009-10 Annual Report lists £29.238 million grant in aid paid by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in respect of the following Ofcom activities for the months of April, May, June and July 2010:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 Spectrum Management 22.5 
			 Spectrum Awards 1.8 
			 Spectrum Clearance 4.1 
			 Ex-Post Competition 0.7 
			 Other - Online Copyright Infringement, Local Media, Digital Participation and Postal Integration 0.1 
		
	
	This is grant in aid paid in line with agreed procedures with BIS and is appropriately classified within Ofcom's statutory accounts under International Financial Reporting Standards conventions.
	In addition, BIS has provided a loan of £2,036,000 to Ofcom to enable them to undertake work to meet their obligations under the Digital Economy Act 2010. Those costs will fall to industry, but will not be recouped until the code of practice comes into force, at which time Ofcom will repay the loan to BIS.

Olympic Games 2012: Housing

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what proportion of the affordable homes to be provided through the transformation of the Olympic Athletes' Village will be  (a) accessible homes and  (b) affordable accessible homes;
	(2)  whether developers undertaking work for the London 2012 Olympics will be obliged to provide a certain proportion of accessible housing in new developments in the area;
	(3)  how many of the 1,379 affordable homes to be provided through the Olympic Athletes' Village will be accessible;
	(4)  if he will take steps to ensure that no accommodation unit in the Olympic Athletes' Village which has been modified for paralympians will be demolished or have its modifications removed following the London 2012 Olympics;
	(5)  what proportion of short-term housing in the Olympic Athletes' Village will be designated as accessible housing as part of the Olympic Legacy strategy.

Hugh Robertson: The Olympic and Paralympic Village has been designed to be part of a successful social, environmental and economically sustainable community. All the 2,818 housing units have been built to the Lifetime Homes Standard for accessible and adaptable homes. The planning consent requires that 8% of these properties be fully wheelchair accessible and that 10% of the social for rent housing and 8% of the intermediate housing be fully wheelchair accessible.
	All the accommodation built for Olympians and Paralympians will be retrofitted to provide homes in legacy in compliance with this planning consent.
	1,379 affordable housing units in the Village have been sold to Triathlon Homes, an approved provider of affordable homes. The provision of short-term lets to tenants will be a matter for Triathlon.

Sports: Bexley

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to support grassroots sport in the London borough of Bexley.

Hugh Robertson: Sport England is the arm's length body with responsibility for community sport. Their aim is to increase and sustain levels of participation in sport.
	National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) are responsible for the strategy, delivering through their networks of community clubs, coaches and volunteers, across all parts of the country. Sport England is investing £480 million through 46 governing bodies over the next four years and has agreed 'grow' and 'sustain' targets with each one. Each sport has developed a whole sport plan to achieve these targets.
	Additionally, the £135 million Mass Participation Olympic Legacy-Places People Play-was launched in November 2010 and will benefit residents of Bexley and the country more widely. This programme will be funded by lottery money and has been developed in partnership with Sport England, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic games (LOCOG), the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the British Paralympic Association (BPA).
	In addition to the current funding being invested through NGBs, Sport England has invested a total of £3,114,049 into Bexley since 2006. This includes a recent investment of £1.24 million via the Sustainable Facilities Fund to the Europa Gymnastics Centre, the site which will be the new home of the Europa Gymnastics Club, which will also act as an Olympic and Paralympic training venue for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of invoices from suppliers her Department paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011.

Damian Green: The Home Department has invested significantly in process improvement through the creation of a professional Shared Service Centre and Procurement Centre of Excellence complemented by upgraded Procure to Pay systems.
	The Department puts a firm focus on paying its suppliers on time when it is in receipt of a compliant invoice. The Home Department's performance information for paying suppliers within 10 days of receipt of a compliant invoice in January and February 2011 is:
	
		
			  Home Department-invoices paid within 10 days 
			   January 2011  February 2011 
			 Number of compliant invoices paid 5,121 5,522 
			 Number of compliant invoices paid within terms 4,154 4,751 
			 Percentage of compliant invoices paid within terms 81 86

Departmental Redundancy

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects an announcement to be made on redundancies in the Sheffield offices of  (a) the UK Border Agency and  (b) her Department.

Damian Green: There are currently no plans to announce redundancies in the Sheffield offices of UK Border Agency and the Home Department this year. In line with the budget settlement of the spending review 2011-15, the UK Border Agency Offices and Home Department in Sheffield will have to carry out restructuring exercises.
	Departments will explore all possible and reasonable alternatives such as redeployment and voluntary exit schemes to avoid compulsory redundancies.

Departmental Redundancy

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of likely redundancies in the UK Border Agency in the next four years.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency is committed to making no compulsory redundancies unless as a last resort. Announced headcount reductions of 5,200 posts over the next four years will be achieved wherever possible through voluntary early release schemes, ceasing recruiting, and reducing the numbers of contractors and agency staff.

Dr Michael Savage

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on the exclusion from the UK of Dr Michael Savage.

Damian Green: Michael Savage was excluded from the UK for making statements that brought him within scope of the published unacceptable behaviour policy. He expressed views that seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts and foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence. In the absence of clear, convincing and public evidence that Mr Savage has repudiated his previous statements, his exclusion remains in place.

Foreign Workers

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had on the grant of intracompany transfer visas or other visas to  (a) Indian and  (b) other non-EU workers; what proposals she has received from the (i) EU and (ii) Indian Government concerning such visas; what representations she has received on this subject; what proposals have been made for the EU to grant the right of entry to EU member states for such workers from outside the EU and what proposals have otherwise been made in respect of the EU on this subject; what discussions she has held with other Ministers regarding such matters; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: The Indian Government responded to last year's public consultation on the changes we are making to economic migration routes, including Intra-Company Transfers (ICTs). The European Commission brought forward a proposal for a directive on the admission of third country ICTs, which the UK has not opted into. The EU is also holding discussions with India on a free trade agreement which, it is proposed, will contain provisions on migrant workers.
	The Home Secretary has frequent discussions with other Ministers concerning migration policy, among other matters.

Human Trafficking

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to announce the Government's policy on human trafficking.

Damian Green: Combating human trafficking is a key priority for the Government. We are committed to tackling organised crime groups which profit from this human misery and to protecting victims. We are due to publish our new strategy on human trafficking in the spring.

Immigrants: Detainees

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  which Department of the UK Border Agency is responsible for ensuring that immigration detainees scheduled for removal are able to retrieve personal possessions from their homes before removal;
	(2)  what changes there have been to  (a) policy and  (b) practice on responsibility within her Department and the UK Border Agency for ensuring that immigration detainees scheduled for removal are sent personal possessions before removal.

Damian Green: Where UK Border Agency enforcement officers (based in Local Immigration Teams around the country) attend an individual's home in order to detain them with a view to removal, the opportunity to pack a reasonable amount of luggage (determined by baggage flight allowances) is given prior to departure for the Immigration Removal Centre (IRC). Full details are set out in Chapter 61.10.8 of the UK Border Agency's Enforcement Instructions and Guidance, available to view at:
	www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/enforcement/
	However, once an individual is in detention, it is their responsibility to make arrangements for the retrieval of any further possessions from their home, via friends or family for instance. Such possessions may be brought to the IRC in question for inclusion in the individual's luggage for their removal flight.
	Should this lead to an excess of baggage for the flight, however, separate arrangements for their transport must be made by the individual. Detainees are allowed to retain their mobile phones or use phone cards to facilitate this, and welfare officers are on site to assist detainees with any concerns surrounding their departure, such as luggage.
	There has been no recent change to this policy or practice.

Local Child Curfew Schemes: Suffolk

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many child curfew orders were issued in Suffolk in each year since 1997; and how many such orders were breached in each such year.

James Brokenshire: Local child curfew schemes were introduced by section 14 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and amended in sections 48 and 49 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. They were repealed by the Police and Crime Act 2009.
	Information on the number of local child curfew schemes was not collected centrally.

Offensive Weapons: Sentencing

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on sentences given for  (a) possession of a knife and  (b) possession of a handgun.

James Brokenshire: The Secretary of State for the Home Department has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Justice on a range of sentencing issues.

Prevent Scheme

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was allocated to Milton Keynes local authority under the Prevent scheme in each of the last three years.

Andrew Stunell: I have been asked to reply.
	Milton Keynes council received the following amounts from the Department for Communities and Local Government as part of their Area Based Grant under the Prevent programme.
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008-09 105,000 
			 2009-10 143,292 
			 2010-11 138,193

Victims

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate has been made of the chance of an individual becoming a victim of crime  (a) nationally and  (b) in North Wales in each of the last 30 years.

James Brokenshire: Information on adults' and households', resident in England and Wales, risk of being a victim of crimes covered by the British Crime Survey (BCS) is available for many of the last 30 years. However, the BCS does not cover all types of crime and all population groups, with for example victimisation of children excluded.
	Data for England and Wales and North Wales between 1981 and 2009-10 are provided in the table. The BCS sample was expanded in 2001-02 to allow the provision of some key estimates at police force area level but prior to this it is not possible to provide estimates for North Wales.
	
		
			  Trends in percentage of adults/ households who were victims once or more (prevalence risk) 
			   Personal crime  Household crime 
			   North Wales  England and Wales  North Wales  England and Wales 
			 1981 - 7 - 22 
			 1983 - 7 - 24 
			 1987 - 7 - 27 
			 1991 - 7 - 29 
			 1993 - 9 - 33 
			 1995 - 10 - 33 
			 1997 - 10 - 28 
			 1999 - 9 - 25 
			 2001-02 5 7 (1)17 22 
			 2002-03 (1)5 8 (1)13 21 
			 2003-04 (1)4 7 (1)14 20 
			 2004-05 (1)4 7 16 18 
			 2005-06 (1)4 6 (1)12 18 
			 2006-07 6 7 17 19 
			 2007-08 (1)3 6 (1)11 17 
			 2008-09 (1)4 6 (1)9 18 
			 2009-10 (1)3 6 (1)11 16 
			 (1) Denotes statistical significance (at 95% level) in comparison with England and Wales.  Notes: 1. All risks are rounded to nearest whole number. 2. Details of Personal and Household crime as measured by the BCS are given in section 2.6 'BCS measures of crime' in 'User Guide to Home Office Crime Statistics' at: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/crimestats-userguide.pdf 3. Differences in estimates between years may not be statistically significant. Significant differences between years covering this period can be found in table 2.03 in 'Crime in England and Wales 2009/10' at: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb1210.pdf  Source: British Crime Survey

Visas: Students

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she has made an assessment of the effect on UK universities of the decision to  (a) withdraw two-year post-study working visas and  (b) reduce entitlements to part-time work on study visas.

Damian Green: A consultation on the student immigration system closed on 31 January. The consultation sought the views of all respondents on the effect of the proposals. The results of the consultation and an impact assessment will be published in due course.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan: Education

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans his Department has to work with  (a) the Afghan Ministry of Education and  (b) donors to (i) reduce barriers to girls' education, (ii) increase access to secondary and higher education for girls, (iii) increase the number of trained male and female teachers in rural areas and (iv) increase the number of adequately equipped schools in rural areas in Afghanistan.

Andrew Mitchell: The coalition Government are putting girls and women at the heart of our international development programme. The Department for International Development (DFID) is working with other donors to support the Government of Afghanistan with the implementation of its second National Education Strategic Plan, which aims to raise enrolment from 7 million to 9 million in the next three years. Key components of the plan include increasing the number of female teachers (by expanding their intake at teacher training centres); ensuring 200 secondary schools for girls are built in rural areas; and ensuring 2,540 local communities have increasing responsibility for managing safety arrangements at schools, so that both girls and boys can attend and enjoy school safely.
	Along with other major donors, DFID is also supporting Afghanistan's application for assistance via the Education for All Fast Track Initiative.

Afghanistan: Education

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of barriers to girls' education in Afghanistan.

Andrew Mitchell: A recent Education Sector Analysis, conducted in preparation for Afghanistan's application for the global Education for All initiative, highlighted many barriers to girls' education, including lack of female teachers, limited number of girls' schools, safety and security issues and distance of travel. The Department for International Development (DFID), along with other donors, is working with the Government of Afghanistan to help address these challenges. For example, the support we have provided through the Government's Education Quality Improvement Programme has enabled communities and schools to come together to enhance safeguards for girls travelling to and being in school.

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department of International Development (DFID) paid 63.92% of payments within 10 days in January and 92.98% in February, January figures were significantly lower than average due to a high volume of invoices received and adverse weather conditions that affected staff in our East Kilbride office in December 2010, as well as an IT system upgrade in January.

Departmental Leaseback Arrangements

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not disposed of any assets under a sale and leaseback arrangement over the last 12 months.

Developing Countries: Energy

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he last discussed the World Bank energy strategy review with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Andrew Mitchell: I meet the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on a regular basis and a variety of relevant matters are discussed. Although we have not met specifically to discuss the World Bank Energy Strategy Review, officials from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Department for Energy and Climate Change regularly meet and discuss the Review as it progresses. Both I and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change are in close touch with officials on this process. DFID officials have also been in regular contact with the World Bank to feed in UK views on previous drafts of the review.
	DFID has emphasised the need for the World Bank to take full account of all the relevant issues concerning use of renewable energy versus fossil fuels in developing countries, and to pay better consideration to the vulnerability of natural resources and energy assets in developing countries. The UK has also emphasised the importance of strengthening the World Bank's role in supporting developing country planning capacity for low carbon, climate resilient growth.

India: Overseas Aid

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid he plans to allocate to India in cash terms in each of the next five years.

Andrew Mitchell: Following my announcement on 1 March 2011 of the conclusion of the Bilateral and Multilateral Aid Reviews, I published indicative budgets for the Department for International Development's (DFID's) bilateral programme for the four financial years 2011-12 to 2014-15. The indicative budget for India is frozen at £280 million for each of those four years.
	The UK's aid programme in India will focus much more tightly on India's poorest states and poorest people. We will help these states to unlock more funds from the private sector and reinforce the impact of the Indian Government's own programmes. Our goal will be to help the poorest women and girls get quality schooling, health care, nutrition and jobs as the key to breaking the cycle of poverty for the next generation.

International Assistance

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the membership is of his Department's Multilateral Aid Review.

Stephen O'Brien: The Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) was conducted by staff from the Department for International Development (DFID), reporting directly to the Secretary of State for International Development. DFID staff sought comments and evidence from a range of stakeholders, including the multilateral organisations themselves, civil society organisations such as non-government organisations and trade unions, other Government Departments and developing country partners. In addition, two leading academics in the field of development studies acted as joint external reviewers for the Review.

International Labour Organisation: Finance

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he consulted the TUC prior to taking the decision to reduce his Department's level of support for the International Labour Organisation.

Stephen O'Brien: The Trades Union Congress (TUC) was consulted throughout the Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) process. In the early stages of this process, the TUC submitted an evidence paper detailing its views on the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The Secretary of State for International Development discussed the ILO with Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, on 15 December 2010. Department for International Development (DFID) officials met the TUC in January 2011 to discuss the MAR's findings relating to the ILO and I discussed the review of the ILO with representatives of the TUC in February 2011.

CABINET OFFICE

Business: Closures

Linda Riordan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many small and medium-sized businesses in Halifax have closed since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many small and medium-sized businesses in Halifax have closed since May 2010.
	Annual statistics on the number of enterprise deaths are available from 2002 onwards in the ONS release on Business Demography at:
	www.statistics.gov.uk
	The table below contains the latest statistics available, which give the number of enterprise deaths for small and medium-sized businesses in the constituency of Halifax for 2009. Information relating to 2010 will be available following release of the latest Business Demography publication in November 2011.
	
		
			  Enterprise deaths in Halifax constituency 
			   Employment size band 
			   0-49  50-249  Total 
			 2009 390 0 390

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Elections

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he plans to take to ensure that votes cast by service personnel in Afghanistan for elections to be held on 15 May 2011 reach the UK securely.

Andrew Robathan: For the referendum and elections on 5 May 2011, the Ministry of Defence is working with the Cabinet Office and the Electoral Commission to utilise existing supply flights to transport postal ballot packs (subject to operational priorities). However, voting by proxy remains the most reliable means for service personnel stationed overseas to cast their votes.

Air Force: Pay

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department plans to continue to pay flying-related financial retention incentives.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 28 February 2011
	Financial incentive schemes, including financial retention incentives are kept under constant review based on need. This is particularly important in a period when force structures are changing. However, no decisions have yet been taken. Information on any changes to existing schemes will be promulgated as soon as they are known.

Arab States: Arms Trade

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on which occasions representatives of the government of  (a) Egypt,  (b) Bahrain , (c) Libya and  (d) Tunisia have attended sales and marketing events organised by his Department in the last three years; and what the status was of their attendance.

Mark Prisk: I have been asked to reply.
	Major UK defence and security exhibitions are organised commercially. The role of UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation (UKTI DSO) is to host official overseas Government defence and security delegations at these events. Invitations are issued with approval of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In the last three years an official delegation has attended from Bahrain at Farnborough International Air Show 2008 (FIAS '08), Defence Equipment and Systems International 2009, and Home Office Scientific and Development Branch exhibition 2010 (HOSDB), from Egypt at Defence Equipment and Systems International 2009 and HOSDB '10, and from Libya at FIAS '10.
	In addition, UKTI DSO has hosted inward visits from representatives of the Governments of Bahrain, Egypt and Libya. In May 2008, a Bahraini Army delegation visited UK to witness a demonstration of artillery fire control equipment. In May 2009 the Bahraini National Guard visited UK for a variety of presentations related to defence of major international conferences. In May 2009 and October 2010, a Bahraini defence delegation attended the multinational Ballistic Toolkit demonstrations of small arms and protective equipment In September 2010, Bahraini defence delegates attended an exhibition of UK military equipment as part of UK/Bahrain defence staff talks. In April 2010 an Egyptian officer attended a Ministry of Defence event to brief London-based Defence attachés on the UK approach to operational training and UKTI DSO Export Support Team demonstrated some optical equipment. In November 2009 a Libyan delegation visited a variety of UK defence companies to discuss border security issues. Some members of the Libyan delegation which attended FIAS '10 also visited RAF establishments.
	Representatives of the Government of Tunisia have not attended a defence or security exhibition, or other export related event, as guests of the UK Government over the last three years.

Armed Forces: Pay

Stuart Andrew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 20 January 2011,  Official Report, columns 45-47WS, on armed forces allowances, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the changes to local overseas allowance on the average amount payable to personnel based overseas; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 7 March 2011
	 This information is not held as the rate of local overseas allowance can vary significantly depending upon where individuals are posted and which rank band they are placed in. It is expected that in the majority of cases individuals will receive less, but as a result of the reduction of rank-based bands from 13 to three, personnel at lower ranks may find that they benefit as a result of these changes.

Armed Forces: Pensions

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of active members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme earn  (a) between £10,000 and £15,000,  (b) between £15,000 and £20,000,  (c) between £20,000 and £25,000,  (d) between £25,000 and £30,000 and  (e) £30,000 and more.

Andrew Robathan: The following table provides information on the proportion of active members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme by salary band as at 1 April 2010:
	
		
			  Salary band  Proportion (%) 
			 £10,000-£14,999 3.5 
			 £15,000-£19,999 19.6 
			 £20,000-£24,999 14.4 
			 £25,000-£29,999 13.5 
			 £30,000 plus 49.0

Armed Forces: Redundancy

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 15 February 2011,  Official Report, columns 815-22W, on armed forces (redundancies), what actions  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department plan to take to ensure that no members of the armed forces are informed of their redundancy by email.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 28 February 2011
	Ministers have made clear that individuals should be informed that they are being made redundant through the Chain of Command. In exceptional cases this may be by telephone, but for the vast majority it will be face to face. In no circumstances will personnel be informed by email.

Departmental Procurement

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to the public purse was of the  (a) procurement and  (b) outsourcing function of (i) his Department and (ii) each (A) agency and (B) non-departmental public body for which he is responsible in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence has made no estimates of the total cost of its procurement and outsourcing functions. We have estimated that the cost of the commercial element of the procurement function in 2009-10 was £153 million. The commercial element of the procurement function is a sub-set of the overall cost, which also includes the cost of project management, the supply chain and the costs involved over the entire life-cycle of a project, from initial requirement and concept, through to ultimate final disposal. This estimate is based on an average cost of the number of commercial staff in the main commercial areas, including overheads. The estimate for the Private Finance Unit, which is part of the outsourcing function, was £0.7 million.
	Separate information for each agency and non-departmental public body could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Nimrod Aircraft

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the factors determining the withdrawal of MR2 Nimrod were taken into account in his decision to cancel the MRA4 Nimrod.

Peter Luff: The Nimrod MR2 was withdrawn from service in March 2010. I cannot comment on the rationale for decisions taken by the previous Government, but the decision to cancel the Nimrod MRA4 project was based on a careful consideration of future costs and military priorities.

TRANSPORT

Blue Badge Scheme: Learning Disability

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance he has given to local authorities on the provision of blue badges for drivers responsible for adults with learning difficulties; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport has not issued any guidance specifically on this matter. Blue Badges can be issued to individuals who receive the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance, are registered blind, receive a war pensioners mobility supplement, or who have a "permanent and substantial disability that causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking". People with conditions such as learning difficulties will be eligible for a badge if they meet one or more of these criteria.

Cycling

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to increase cycling as a means of transport in  (a) Birmingham,  (b) the West Midlands and  (c) England.

Norman Baker: The Government have committed to funding the Bikeability cycling proficiency training programme for the lifetime of this Parliament-until 2015, thereby giving confidence to the future of the programme. The focus of Government support will be on providing children the opportunity to receive training when at school.
	In addition, the Government have allocated £560 million resource and capital funding to support local sustainable travel projects in the form of the local sustainable transport fund. Through this, local transport authorities outside London are eligible to bid for packages of sustainable travel measures which can incorporate cycling initiatives.

Cycling England

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of closing Cycling England.

Norman Baker: Cycling England will cease to exist after 31 March 2011. All contracts relating to its work, including board appointments, were due to come to an end on that date and therefore there is no cost for early termination. Any contracts for work which is continuing are being renegotiated in line with departmental procedures. The three staff of Cycling England are Department for Transport employees.

Cycling: Parking

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to raise cycle parking standards for new developments.

Norman Baker: holding answer 7 March 2011
	 In 2007 the Departments for Transport and Communities and Local Government together published "Manual for Streets"
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/manforstreets/
	The manual contains detailed guidance on cycle parking for new developments and it is up to authorities whether or not they choose to follow this in their local plans. The Department for Transport is not currently planning any further work on this issue.

Departmental Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many  (a) actual and  (b) full-time equivalent staff were employed by his Department in May 2010.

Norman Baker: The central Department and its seven executive Agencies identified the following number of  (a) actual and  (b) full-time equivalent staff were employed in May 2010. The total includes both permanent and non-permanent employees.
	 (a) The number of actual staff employed as at 31 May 2010 was 19,648 (2,186 of which were employed in the Central Department).
	 (b) The number of full-time equivalent staff employed as at 31 May 2010 was 18,603 (2,133 of which were employed in the Central Department).
	The Department is undergoing organisational restructuring to contribute to the spending review commitment of a 33% reduction in administration budget (composed of pay and non-pay costs) during the spending review period.

Departmental Manpower

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many and which staff positions he expects to be removed as part of his Department's programme of internal restructuring.

Norman Baker: The central Department and its seven Executive Agencies expect to reduce the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) employed by approximately 1,660 as part of organisational restructuring by the end of 2014-15. This is in order to contribute to the spending review commitment of a 33% reduction in the administration budget (composed of pay and non-pay costs) and as a result of other measures to improve efficiency.
	Of this overall reduction, a reduction of approximately 480 FTEs will be from the central Department. All posts have been redesigned during this restructuring to ensure they meet the needs of the organisation going forward, have clear responsibility and accountability and add value to each other.

Departmental Regulation

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what regulations his Department introduced between 7 December 2010 and 8 February 2011.

Michael Penning: 15 statutory instruments made by the Department for Transport came into force between 7 December 2010 and 8 February 2011, details of which are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  DFT regulations introduced between 7 December 2010 and 8 February 2011 
			  Title  Reference  In force 
			 The Bus Lane Contraventions (Approved Local Authorities) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) and Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions Designation (No. 4) Order 2010 2010 No. 2790 31 December 2010 
			 The Severn Bridges Tolls Order 2010 2010 No. 3002 1 January 2011 
			 The Cornwall Council (Havle North Quay) Bridge Scheme 2010 Confirmation Instrument 2010 2010 No. 3032 6 January 2011 
			 The M1 Motorway (Junctions 10 to 13 Improvement Connecting Roads) Scheme 2010 2010 No. 2824 9 January 2011 
			 The Traffic Management (Northamptonshire County Council) Permit Scheme Order 2010 2010 No. 2823 10 January 2011 
			 The Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) (Asbestos) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 2984 10 January 2011 
			 The Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) (Artificial Optical Radiation) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 2987 10 January 2011 
			 The Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) and Merchant Shipping(Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 3035 14 January 2011 
			 The Fixed Penalty (Amendment) Order 2010 2010 No. 2720 1 February 2011 
			 The Road Safety (Financial Penalty Deposit) (Amendment) Order 2010 2010 No. 2721 1 February 2011 
			 The Road Safety (Financial Penalty Deposit) (Appropriate Amount) (Amendment) Order 2010 2010 No. 3016 1 February 2011 
			 The River Mersey (Mersey Gateway Bridge) Order 2011 2011 No. 41 1 February 2011 
			 The Shrewsbury (Kingsland) Bridge (Revision of Tolls) Order 2011 2011 No. 71 1 February 2011 
			 The Motor Vehicles (Insurance Requirements) Regulations 2011 2011 No. 20 4 February 2011 
			 ¦The Road Safety Act 2006 (Commencement No. 6) Order 2011 2011 No. 19 4 February 2011

Driving Tests: Fees and Charges

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has given consideration to changing the level of fees charged for driving tests; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The test fees charged by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) are set at levels to meet the agency's expenditure.
	The agency is not currently planning an overall increase in the fee levels set for its statutory activities, although some rebalancing of fees may occur.

Heathrow Airport

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration the South East Airports Taskforce plans to give to restrictions on night flights at Heathrow airport after October 2012.

Theresa Villiers: The South East Airports Taskforce is exploring measures to help make the most of existing infrastructure and improve conditions for all users at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports.
	Proposals for post October 2012 restrictions on night flights at Heathrow will be subject to a separate consultation. An announcement about the timing of the consultation will be made in due course.

Pedestrian Crossings

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of the replacement of pelican crossings by puffin crossings  (a) in total and  (b) per crossing in the last 10 years.

Norman Baker: All decisions to install or alter pedestrian crossing facilities are taken at local level and the Department for Transport does not hold any information regarding costs incurred by local authorities for this purpose.

Railway Stations: Heating

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 12 January 2011,  Official Report, column 349W, on Network Rail: passengers, if he will assess the merits of introducing a duty to provide a warm waiting area at train stations as part of any future rail franchise agreements.

Theresa Villiers: The Department for Transport has no plans to introduce such a duty. Reforms to the franchise process, such as longer franchises, will give franchisees better incentives for long-term investment in the stations.

Railways: Oxfordshire

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects of Network Rail assuming responsibility for the Evergreen 3 project from Chiltern Railways.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 8 March 2011
	Chiltern Railways remains compliant with the delivery dates of the Evergreen 3 project laid out in its contract with the Department for Transport. It has not therefore been necessary for the Department to undertake any assessment of Network Rail assuming responsibility for the Evergreen 3 project.

Railways: Oxfordshire

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the funding for the Evergreen 3 project his Department is providing.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 8 March 2011
	The Department for Transport has not provided Chiltern with any funding for the Evergreen 3 project.

Third Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department are participating in volunteering activities as part of his Department's involvement in the big society initiative.

Norman Baker: The ministerial team supports and encourages volunteering in many ways, in our ministerial roles and as constituency members. We actively support initiatives by participating in visits, attending community events and raising awareness of volunteering through media activity.
	Ministerial involvement in charities is recorded in the "List of Ministers' interests". The current list is available on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/list-ministers-interests

Voluntary Work and Charitable Donations

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department has a policy to encourage its employees to  (a) volunteer and  (b) donate via payroll giving.

Norman Baker: Although the central Department for Transport and its agencies do not have a specific policy to encourage volunteering and payroll giving, opportunities for volunteering activities are promoted on their intranet sites. Case studies of individual and team volunteering are publicised, and employees are encouraged to share their experiences.
	Up to three days special paid leave are allowed annually for volunteering, and examples of eligible activities are listed in the staff handbook.
	The Department operates and publicises its Give as You Earn (GAYE) payroll giving scheme which enables employees to make regular payments to good causes directly from salary.
	The central Department for Transport won the 2010 Volunteering Partnership Award for Innovative Projects for its Fast Stream volunteering mentoring project.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to answer questions  (a) 24052,  (b) 24053,  (c) 24051 and  (d) 24054 tabled on 10 November 2010.

Norman Baker: holding answer 7 March 2011
	 Regrettably, a rare administrative error in the Department has meant that I have only been able to answer these questions on 8 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 921-22W. I apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

EDUCATION

Academies: Finance

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the local authority central spend equivalent grant to each academy school was in real terms in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 3 February 2011
	Local authority central spend equivalent grant (LACSEG) is paid to academies by academic year (AY), September to August.
	There were 133 academies open in AY 2008/09. LACSEG data for these academies is held by the Department for Education and shown in the table.
	There were 202 academies open in AY 2009/10. LACSEG data for these academies is held by the Young People's Learning Agency and shown in the table.
	Copies of both tables have been placed in the Library.

Business: Education

Karen Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to develop and promote enterprise education; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department currently has a contract with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) to run the Enterprise Network to support enterprise education. The network is made up of Enterprise Learning Partnerships (ELPs), each chaired by a head teacher with representatives on the board from two secondary schools, two primary schools, a special school, a further education college and an employer. There are currently 54 ELPs covering 99.6% of local authority areas in England. Lead practitioners for each sector of education have been identified in each region to share their ideas for enterprise education with their peers.
	The contract with SSAT ends in March 2011. Beyond that date, we expect the ELPs to become self-sustaining without Government funding, ensuring a network of local and teacher-led groups to support enterprise education in schools.
	From April 2011, if schools wish to provide enterprise education, they may do so of their own accord, either buying in services from enterprise education providers or arranging their own enterprise activities. They will be able to use the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for this purpose which, from financial year 2011-12, will include the £55 million that used to be notionally allocated for enterprise education but is no longer earmarked for that purpose. Schools are free to spend the DSG however they so choose.

Departmental Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether all new contracts his Department has tendered over £10,000 have been published with associated tender documents on the Contracts Finder website since its inception.

Tim Loughton: Since 1 January 2011 the Department has so far published six tender documents and one contract on Contracts Finder. Prior to this we published six ICT contracts on the Department's website and six tender documents on Business Link. We currently have one tender and one contract being prepared for publication.
	The Department has robust systems in place to identify relevant tenders and contracts for publication but I cannot guarantee that some documents may exist that have not yet been identified.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department has spent on artwork since May 2010.

Tim Loughton: The Department does not record expenditure on artwork separately on its accounting system. If this information could be obtained it would be at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Senior Civil Servants

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which members of the senior civil service have left his Department since May 2010; on what date and for what reasons the exit occurred in each case; and what  (a) contractual and  (b) non-contractual payments were made upon exit to each such staff member.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 31 January 2011
	 The information for the Department is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Name (at director level and above only)( 1)  Date of departure  Reasons for leaving  Contract terms  Exit payment (cost to Department) (£) 
			 Deputy director 31 May Volunteer Early Release Non-contractual 410,000-414,999 
			  30 July Resignation n/a n/a 
			  15 September Approved Early Retirement Non-contractual 195,000-199,999 
			  15 September Approved Early Retirement Non-contractual 205,000-209,999 
			  24 October Transferred to another Government Department n/a n/a 
			  31 December Flexible Early Retirement Non-contractual 100,000-104,999 
			  
			 Michael Hearty 22 August Transferred to another Government Department n/a n/a 
			  
			 Ian Taylor 30 September Flexible Early Release Non-contractual 215,000-219,999 
			 (1) Senior civil service naming and salary protocols are based on the latest published Transparency Agenda exercise criteria.

Departmental Temporary Employment

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the most recent previous employment was of each senior staff member employed on a fixed-term contract in his Department since May 2010.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 20 January 2011
	 Since May 2010, the Department has employed fewer than five individuals in the senior civil service on a fixed-term contract.

Departmental Travel

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent on grey fleet in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

Tim Loughton: Information for the Department is as follows:
	
		
			   Total cost (£) 
			 2008/09 101,296 
			 2009/10 106,912

Departmental Written Questions

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many and what proportion of the named day parliamentary questions tabled for answer by his Department received a substantive answer on the day named between 18 May 2010 and the latest date for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many questions for written answer on a named day his Department received between 11 May 2010 and 28 February 2011; and how many such questions have received a substantive answer on the named day specified to date;
	(3)  how many questions for ordinary written answer his Department received between 11 May 2010 and 28 February 2011; and how many have received a substantive answer to date.

Tim Loughton: holding answers 14 February and 7 March 2011
	The Department has received 728 named day PQs between 11 May 2010 and 28 February 2011. Of the PQs replied to between the specified dates 10% were answered on the named day.
	The Department has received 2166 PQs for ordinary written answer between 11 May 2010 and 28 February 2011, 74% have received a substantive answer.

Disadvantaged: Children

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage voluntary and community sector engagement with local authorities in the delivery of early intervention programmes.

Sarah Teather: This is a key theme of our reform programme on Sure Start. The Government wants to retain a national network of Sure Start Children's Centres, which offer universal services and proven early interventions to support families in greatest need, and to increase local flexibility to configure services to meet local need. We want to enable more voluntary and community sector organisations to run and deliver services within children's centres; and we are seeking opportunities for public sector workers within children's centres to form employee owned mutuals or cooperatives. The recent Localism Bill included measures to give local organisations and local authority employees the right to challenge local authorities to run services if they can do things better or more cost effectively. The Government are also working with local authorities, the early years sector and the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, to discuss how to overcome practical barriers to increasing voluntary and community sector involvement in children's centres. In addition, the Department is investing £59 million each year over the next two years to directly fund voluntary and community sector organisations to deliver a range of grant funded activities of national significance in relation to children, young people and families, with a particular emphasis on early intervention and supporting the most disadvantaged.

Discretionary Learner Support Fund

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has for the allocation of the discretionary learner support fund.

Nick Gibb: We are committed to making sure that young people from low income households can continue in education and training post-16. We are considering the replacement for the education maintenance allowance and want to ensure that the funds we have are targeted on those young people who most need support to enable them to participate in education.

Education Endowment Fund

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether  (a) sixth form colleges and  (b) further education colleges will be eligible to submit applications (i) to the Education Endowment Fund proposed in paragraph 7.12 of the White Paper, The Importance of Teaching and (ii) for a share of the £35 million collaboration incentive fund set out in paragraph 7.13 of the same document.

Nick Gibb: The purpose of the Education Endowment Fund is to fund bold and innovative approaches into ways of raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in underperforming schools. If a sixth form or a further education college considered it could support an underperforming school to raise attainment then it would be eligible to submit an application for consideration to the organisation administering the Fund.
	The intention of the collaboration incentive as described in the Schools White Paper is to reward schools who support weaker schools demonstrably to improve their performance while also improving their own. The design of the scheme is still in progress, and so no decision has yet been taken about whether sixth form and further education colleges are in scope for any of its activities.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which body will monitor the effects on students of the proposed changes to student financial support in further education; and when he expects initial estimates of the  (a) level of funding allocated per student per institution and  (b) number of young people receiving (i) funds and (ii) other assistance through the Discretionary Learner Support Fund to be available.

Nick Gibb: The Young People's Learning Agency currently allocate the discretionary learner support fund to schools, colleges and training providers on behalf of the Department for Education. The funds are currently allocated according to a formula which takes into account a range of factors including the student population and levels of deprivation. We are considering the replacement for the EMA, including how the funds should be allocated to ensure that support is targeted on those children who most need it to allow them to continue in education.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the effect on the ability of students to travel of the abolition of education maintenance allowance.

Nick Gibb: We are considering the replacement for the education maintenance allowance and want to ensure that the funds we have are targeted on those young people who most need support to enable them to participate in learning, including to help them to meet transport costs.
	Local authorities have a statutory duty to make arrangements to ensure that young people can attend education. They must publish a statement each year which sets out the support they will provide for transport.

Education Maintenance Allowance

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the costs it will incur as a result of the replacement of the education maintenance allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: We are working with the Young People's Learning Agency, which administers the education maintenance allowance on behalf of the Department for Education, to assess any costs that may arise from the replacement of education maintenance allowance with a package of financial support that is better targeted to those students facing genuine financial barriers to participation.

Free School Meals: Blackpool

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children receive  (a) free school meals and  (b) education maintenance allowance in each local authority ward in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency.

Nick Gibb: Information on free school meal eligibility is shown in the following table:
	The answer includes full-time pupils aged 0 to 15 and part time pupils aged 5 to 15 known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals.
	
		
			  Maintained nursery( 1) , Maintained primary( 2) , state-funded secondary( 2, 3)  and special( 4)  schools: School meal arrangements( 5, 6) . As at January 2010. By each ward within Blackpool North and Cleveleys parliamentary constituency 
			   Maintained nursery( 1)  and primary( 2)  State-funded secondary( 2, 3)  Special( 4) 
			   Number on roll( 5, 6)  Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 5, 6)  Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  Number on roll( 5, 6)  Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 5, 6)  Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  Number on roll( 5, 6)  Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals( 5, 6)  Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 
			 Anchorsholme 794 73 9.2 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bispham 206 23 11.2 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bourne 577 106 18.4 n/a n/a n/a 136 48 35.3 
			 Claremont 489 279 57.1 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Cleveleys Park 182 51 28.0 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Greenlands 402 122 30.3 1,443 503 34.9 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Ingthorpe 752 147 19.5 1,440 154 10.7 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Jubilee 280 54 22.9 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Layton 604 178 29.5 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Norbreck 576 86 14.9 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Park 564 353 62.6 1,865 388 20.8 29 9 31.0 
			 Warbreck 208 36 17.3 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			   
			 Blackpool North and Cleveleys (all wards) 5,634 1,518 26.9 4,748 1,045 22.0 165 57 34.5 
			 n/a = Not applicable. No schools at this type. (1) There are no maintained nursery schools in Blackpool North and Cleveleys parliamentary constituency. (2) Includes middle schools as deemed, (3) Includes city technology colleges and academies, however there are no schools of this type in Blackpool North and Cleveleys parliamentary constituency, (4) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. (5) Includes sole and dual (main) registrations. (6) Pupils who have full-time attendance and are aged 0 to 15. or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged 5 to 15.  Source: School Census 
		
	
	The question of how many young people in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency received EMA is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) which operates the education maintenance allowance for the Department for Education. Peter Lauener, the YPLA's chief executive, has written to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Libraries.
	 Letter from Peter Launer, dated 1 February 2011:
	I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question PQ37302.
	The Department of Education has responded to you regarding the first part of your question. I have been asked to provide a reply to the latter part of your question regarding how many children in each local authority ward in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency have received Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
	Information on the number of young people who have received Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is available for upper tier local authorities but not by constituency. EMA take-up is defined as young people who have received one or more EMA payments in the academic year.
	As at 31 December 2010, the take-up figure for young people in Blackpool local authority area who have received EMA during the 2010/11 academic year was 1,366.
	EMA take-up data showing the number of young people who have received one or more EMA payments during 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10 is available on the YPLA website, at the following address:
	http://ema.ypla.gov.uk/resources/research/takeup/

Free Schools: Expenditure

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department has allocated to expenditure on consultant to support free school proposers to develop business cases and arrange school administration.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not set aside an allocation specifically for consultancy support for Free Schools to develop business cases and arrange school administration.

Members: Correspondence

Amber Rudd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye of 6 January 2011, reference AR/DDS/564, on behalf of her constituent Mr Kilroy.

Tim Loughton: We acknowledge receipt of the letter from the hon. Member. The issues raised in the correspondence are cross cutting and are the responsibility of more than one Department. Responses are being carefully considered before a full and final response is sent in the near future.

Outdoor Education

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the adequacy of support for the use of fieldwork as a teaching method in teacher training courses.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 17 February 2011
	The initial teacher training (ITT) requirements require that providers of ITT design, deliver and assess training to enable trainee teachers to demonstrate that they have met all of the QTS standards. This includes preparing trainees to teach outside the classroom.
	The guidance accompanying QTS standard Q30 provides links to the "Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto" and the "Teaching Outside the Classroom Programme Website". It also offers links to four case studies that chart high quality provision in training teachers to teach outside of the classroom. The teacher training resource bank provides support for trainers and their trainees and currently hosts 37 resources related to fieldwork, including geography and science-related subject specific resources. In addition, there are 152 resources relating to education outside the classroom including a National Foundation for Educational Research survey report on provision in ITT, and the "Manifesto for Learning Outside the Classroom".
	ITT providers are regularly inspected by Ofsted to ensure that they continue to comply with the ITT requirements, that their provision is high quality, and that they have the capacity to improve the quality of that provision.

Outdoor Education

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure that children from low income families are not excluded from participating in out of school learning because of the cost of such activities.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 17 February 2011
	Learning outside the classroom can play a valuable role in any child's educational experience. Existing legislation prevents schools from charging for any visit that takes place during school time, is being undertaken as part of the national curriculum, or as part of preparing a child for a prescribed public examination. Schools may make a charge for board and lodging on residential trips, but parents of pupils eligible for FSM will be exempt from paying this cost.
	From April 2011 we are introducing the pupil premium to support the attainment of deprived children who are currently eligible for free school meals (FSM), children looked after for more than six months and FSM pupils in non-mainstream settings. Schools may in future wish to consider using the pupil premium funding to enable such children to benefit from out of school educational activities.

Primary Education: Finance

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding he has allocated to rebuilding and improvement of primary schools in England in each of the next four years; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education's capital spending will be £15.8 billion over the four-year CSR period. So far capital allocations have been announced for the financial year 2011-12 and the outcome of the capital review which is due to report in the spring will inform funding from 2012-13 onwards.
	Capital funding is not set aside specifically for primary schools. It is the responsibility of each local authority to assess the building requirements of all the maintained schools in its area and prioritise the available resources. However, we have set aside £800 million for 2011-12 to support capital funding specifically where it is urgently necessary to increase the number of school places available in response to population changes in a local area.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of students in  (a) Newton Abbot constituency and  (b) Devon who will qualify for the pupil premium.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 3 February 2011
	 The January 2010 school censuses allow an estimate of the number of eligible pupils to be made.
	In Newton Abbot in January 2010 there were 1,390 pupils known to be eligible, which would give rise to a pupil premium of £597,700. This does not include pupils recorded on the alternative provision census (ie those funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant via local authorities but educated in non-maintained special schools, further education establishments, etc.); those who are not following the national curriculum, although these pupils are eligible for the pupil premium if they are aged between 4 and 15 years, or service children, as these figures are not available at constituency level.
	In Devon in January 2010 there were 10,590 pupils known to be eligible, which would give rise to a pupil premium of £4,553,700. In addition to this there were 775 pupils known to be eligible for the service child premium, which would give rise to a further £155,000.
	However, these are estimates only and are not necessarily indicative of how the pupil premium will be distributed. The number of eligible pupils in 2011 could be higher or lower.
	 Note:
	For the local authority the above estimates include FSM-eligible pupils, in Reception to Year 11, or the appropriate age-range if not following the national curriculum, as at the January 2010 school census, pupil referral unit census and the alternative provision census (ie those pupils funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant via local authorities but educated in non-maintained special schools, further education establishments, etc.) and those eligible for the looked-after child pupil premium. Pupil numbers are rounded to the nearest five.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the number of students who would qualify for the pupil premium under a system based on  (a) Mosaic and  (b) Acorn calculations.

Nick Gibb: Both Mosaic and Acorn are commercially produced classifications of postcodes into types based on the characteristics of residents and their consumer behaviour. This information is derived from a wide range of data. Acorn classifies at postcode level while Mosaic classifies at both households and postcodes.
	As such, neither Mosaic nor Acorn identifies individual pupils as deprived; rather they group areas with other similar areas. Were this to be used for the pupil premium a decision would need to be made about which areas should be defined as 'deprived'. The number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium using either of these methods would depend on which 'types' were chosen to represent areas of deprivation. The more types selected, the more pupils would be living in them.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the level of funding per school pupil in the maintained sector in England in  (a) 2010-11 and  (b) 2011-12.

Nick Gibb: The estimated level of funding per pupil in schools in the maintained sector in England for 2010-11 is £4,082.88. The estimated level of funding per pupil for 2011-12 is not yet available.
	On 13 December the Government announced the school funding settlement for 2011-12 which provides for the schools' budget to be maintained at flat cash per pupil overall, meaning that it will rise in line with increases in pupil numbers. In addition to the settlement for the underlying schools budget, the pupil premium will provide additional funding for schools with deprived pupils. Set at £430 this year at a total cost of £625 million, it will rise to £2.5 billion in 2014-15.

School Capital Funding

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education who was responsible for the appointment of the Chair of the review of school capital funding.

Nick Gibb: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend, made the appointment.

School Leaving and Truancy

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of teenagers  (a) did not complete their schooling and  (b) were absent from school without authorisation in each (i) local authority area and (ii) constituency in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: Information on the proportion of teenagers who did not complete their schooling is not collected by this Department, nor can it be accurately derived from the data currently collected on pupils.
	Information on pupil absence is collected for pupils of compulsory school age only. Information on pupils aged 12 to 15 as at 31 August 2009 who were absent from school without authorisation in each local authority area and parliamentary constituency in 2008/09 has been placed in the House Libraries. To provide information for further years would incur disproportionate cost.

Schools: Admissions

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received on provision for children of service families in the schools admissions code.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education received a representation on 16 December 2010 from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) regarding children of service families and the School Admissions Code, in the light of discussions that had already taken place between the two Departments. This representation included the views of the Children's Education Advisory Service, which provides advice to service families on education and schools. Continued discussion of these matters with the MOD is helping to inform the review of the School Admissions Code, announced in the Schools White Paper-"the importance of Teaching".

Schools: Capital Investment

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to publish the report of the James Review into the allocation of capital for schools.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 2 March 2011
	The Capital Review team will report to Ministers in the spring.

Schools: Crawley

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to announce the budget for School Sport Partnership funding for schools in Crawley constituency for academic year 2011-12.

Tim Loughton: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has announced that he will not continue to provide ring-fenced funding for school sport partnerships beyond 31 August 2011.
	Instead, the Secretary of State is making available £65 million of new funding for schools to enable them to provide more opportunities for competitive sport. This funding will cover the school years 2011/12 and 2012/13 and will pay for one day a week of a secondary PE teacher's time to be spent out of the classroom, encouraging greater take-up of competitive sport in primary schools and securing a fixture network for schools to increase the amount of intra- and inter- school sporting competition. This will include schools in the Crawley constituency.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans his Department has to provide pupil-focused careers advice to pupils of all ages in all schools.

Nick Gibb: The Education Bill proposes a statutory duty on schools to secure access to independent careers guidance for all pupils aged 13 to 16. The guidance should be presented, in an impartial manner and include information on 16 to 18 education or training options, including apprenticeships. Schools will have the freedom to decide how best to fulfil this duty in accordance with the needs of their pupils. This approach is founded on a partnership model where schools work alongside specialist careers advisers to ensure alt pupils have access to appropriate levels of high quality support.

Science: GCSE

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what recent assessment his Department has made of the availability of triple science GCSEs in deprived areas;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to increase the  (a) availability and  (b) take-up of triple science GCSEs in deprived areas.

Nick Gibb: The following table gives the number and percentage of pupils(1) at the end of key stage 4 entering biology, chemistry and physics GCSEs by IDACI decile(2,3 )of pupil residence(4), in 2009/10.
	
		
			  IDACI decile( 2, 3)  Number of resident pupils  Number of resident pupils entering biology, chemistry and physics GCSEs  Percentage of resident pupils entering biology, chemistry and physics GCSEs 
			 0-10% most deprived 66,170 5,425 8.2 
			 10-20% 62,067 5,891 9.5 
			 20-30% 58,984 6,631 11.2 
			 30-0% 56,409 7,480 13.3 
			 40-50% 56,023 8,830 15.8 
			 50-60% 55,133 9,759 17.7 
			 60-70% 54,704 10,813 19.8 
			 70-80% 55,460 12,003 21.6 
			 80-90% 54,900 13,025 23.7 
			 90-100% least deprived 54,121 14,825 27.4 
			 (1) Pupils at the end of key stage 4 at the end of the academic year. (2) Income Deprivation Affecting Children Indices. Each Super Output Areas (SOAs) in England is given a score which ranks it between 1 and 32,482, 1 being the most deprived. (SOAs were introduced in 2004 as a new geographic hierarchy designed to improve the reporting of small area statistics. Lower Layers have a minimum population of 1000, and there are 32,482 LSOAs (Lower Layer Super Output Areas) in England.) (3) IDACI bands are based on 2007 IDACI scores. (4) Only includes pupils who are resident in England attending maintained schools, City Technology Colleges and academies. The residency of 1,755 children is unknown due to missing or invalid postcode information. These children are excluded from the figures in the table.  Source: National Pupil Database (Amended data) 
		
	
	This shows that, while the number of state funded schools offering triple science has risen from 27% to over 70% in six years, the proportion of pupils entered for triple science GCSE is lower in deprived areas. The Government wants to ensure that triple science GCSE is available in all schools and to any pupil who can benefit, and we have already introduced a number of measures to achieve this. We have encouraged schools to offer triple science by including it in the English Baccalaureate. We are also taking steps to increase the number and quality of science teachers, for example by expanding programmes such as Teach First and by looking at how to encourage graduates to teach in shortage subjects, including physics and chemistry.
	The recent Schools White Paper confirms that we will support schools to offer triple science. We plan to announce details of how this support will be focused on increasing take up by those pupils who live in the most deprived areas.

Specialist Schools: Finance

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on publishing the level of capital grant paid to specialist schools upon initial designation.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 18 October 2010
	 In line with the outcomes of the comprehensive spending review announced on 20 October, funding for specialist schools, including high performing specialist schools (HPSS), will be mainstreamed from April 2011. This funding, approximately £450 million in 2010-11, is not being removed from the schools system and will continue to be routed to schools through the Dedicated Schools Grant.
	Details of the funding principles and individual school allocations can be found there under the 'Funding for specialist schools' webpage at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/specialistschools/a0065479/funding-for-specialist-schools

Students: Finance

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what formula he plans to use to determine how much each provider of post-16 education receives from the learner support fund; and whether this formula will be amended following the end of the education maintenance allowance.

Nick Gibb: Discretionary learner support funds are currently allocated according to a formula which takes into account a range of factors including the student population and levels of deprivation.
	We are considering the replacement for the education maintenance allowance, including how the funds should be allocated, to ensure that support is targeted on those young people who most need support to enable them to continue in education.

Supplementary Schools

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his Department's policy is on the role of supplementary schools within general education policy; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education believes that supplementary schools make an effective contribution to community cohesion and have an important part to play in the education and social development of children and young people.
	Over the past two years, the Department has provided a total of £445,000 to the National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education to help raise the profile of supplementary schools and to improve standards of teaching and management.

Sure Start Programme: Finance

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the level of funding for the Sure Start programme in each year of the Comprehensive Spending Review period; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that funds provided to local authorities for the programme are spent on that programme.

Sarah Teather: The spending review announced that funding for Sure Start will be maintained in cash terms over the next spending review period, including investment in health visitors. The total allocated in 10-11 for Sure Start children's centres was £1,135 million. From April 2011, funding for Sure Start will form part of the new un-ringfenced Early Intervention Grant which in total is worth £2,222 million in 2011-12 and £2,307 million in 2012-13. It is for local authorities to determine the most effective use of the funding in the Early Intervention Grant. We have ensured there is enough money in the Early Intervention Grant to maintain a network of Sure Start children's centres, accessible to all, while identifying and supporting families in greatest need.
	Intervening early makes sense socially, morally and financially. Local authorities continue to have duties under the Childcare Act 2006 to consult before opening, closing or significantly changing children's centres and to secure sufficient provision to meet local need, so far as is reasonably practicable. In addition, the Department for Education's partner supporting local authorities' work on children's centres until March 2011, Together for Children, will be ready to assist local authorities in making plans to keep centres open.

Three Valleys Independent Academy

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has received a proposal for a Three Valleys Independent Academy in Rotherham.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has received a proposal for Three Valleys Independent Academy in Rotherham. This Free School Proposal was approved to move to business case and plan stage on 14 January 2011.

Westminster Academy

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the  (a) agenda,  (b) list of speakers,  (c) budget and  (d) invitation list is for the event on free schools he plans to attend at the Westminster Academy on 29 January 2011; and whether speakers will receive (i) remuneration and (ii) expenses for attending the event.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 31 January 2011
	The requested information regarding the conference agenda and speakers can be found in the following table:
	
		
			   Agenda 
			 8.45 Registration and refreshments 
			   
			 10.00 Welcome and introduction 
			  David Bell, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education 
			   
			 10.05 Visualising a new school landscape 
			  Right hon. Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education 
			   
			 10.25 Understanding the proposition 
			  Lesley Longstone, Director General, School Infrastructure and Funding Directorate, Department for Education 
			   
			 10.45 Learning from the best: international evidence 
			  Joel Klein, Former New York City Public Schools Chancellor (now CEO, Educational Division, News Corporation) 
			  Mike Feinberg, Co-founder, Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) 
			  Aaron Brenner, Head of Primary Schools, KIPP Houston 
			  Paul Castro, Head of High Schools, KIPP Houston 
			  Josephine Baker, Executive Director, Washington D.C. Public Charter School Board 
			  Monique Miller, Performance Manager, Washington D.C. Public Charter School Board 
			  Karinne Kennedy, a parent whose children attend The SEED School of Washington 
			   
			 12.00 Q and A session 
			  Right hon. Michael Gove MP, Lord Hill, Joel Klein, Mike Feinberg, Josephine Baker 
			   
			 12.30 Lunch and networking 
			   
			 13.30 Workshop session 1 
			   
			 14.35 Workshop session 2 
			   
			 15.35 Submitting a proposal-best practice 
			  Rachel Wolf, Director, New Schools Network 
			   
			 15.55 The Class of 2011 
			  Mela Watts, Director of Free Schools, Department for Education 
			   
			 16.10 Final remarks and close 
		
	
	The total budget for the conference was £35,460.89.
	The invitations were sent out by the New Schools Network. We are unable to supply the individual names of those on the invitation list due to the restrictions under the Data Protection Act The 400 delegates consisted of parents, teachers and organisations who have expressed an interest in opening a free school. Partner/stakeholder organisations and Government officials also attended the conference.
	The speakers did not receive any remuneration for attending the event. The Department covered the travel and accommodation costs for each of the international speakers, which included a return economy flight from the US, accommodation costs at a Department-approved hotel and one evening meal.

Young People: Bed and Breakfast Accommodation

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people aged 16 and 17 years were placed in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation in the latest period for which figure are available.

Tim Loughton: Information on the number of people aged 16 and 17 years who were placed in emergency bed and breakfast is not available centrally. Revised statutory guidance was issued in 2010 to local authorities on meeting the needs of homeless 16 and 17-year-olds. This makes clear that bed and breakfast accommodation is not considered suitable for 16 and 17-year-olds even on an emergency basis.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Community Relations: Bolton

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department has provided to Bolton local authority for community cohesion projects in each of the last three years.

Andrew Stunell: A total of £280,000 was allocated to Bolton in the three years from 2008-9 to 2010-11 for community cohesion projects via un-ringfenced area based grant.
	The following table shows the Department's total cohesion spend for each financial year from 2008-9 to 2010-11.
	
		
			  Community cohesion funding  area-based grant  in Bolton 
			   £ 
			 2008-09 49,412 
			 2009-10 90,588 
			 2010-11 140,000 
			 Total 280,000

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in January and February 2011.

Bob Neill: In January 2011 the Department for Communities and Local Government paid 92.47% of invoices within 10 days and in February 2011 93.23% of invoices were paid within 10 days.

Departmental Conditions of Employment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of his Department's adherence to each of the principles of good employment practice set out in the Cabinet Office publication Principles of Good Employment Practice.

Bob Neill: DCLG's own standard practices already ensure that outcome-based commissioning of services is our default method. We are engaging with suppliers, prioritising on those most relevant such as facilities management, to review their approach to training and skills.

Departmental Expenditure

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Government Offices for the Regions spent on calls to speaking clock services in each of the last three financial years.

Greg Clark: Information on the costs of any calls made over the last three financial years can be provided only at disproportionate cost although calls to certain premium rate numbers are barred from digital phones, there are a small number of analogue phones installed in each Government Office for emergency use that do not bar access to the speaking clock.

Departmental Leaseback Arrangements

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Bob Neill: No transactions in this category have taken place.

Departmental Legal Costs

Nick Raynsford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on external legal advice in  (a) January and  (b) February 2011.

Bob Neill: holding answer 3 March 2011
	The Department spent £151,921 on external legal advice in January; the figure for February will be available in due course.
	As I indicated in a previous answer to the right hon. Member, this compares to a comparable spend of £4.8 million in 2009-10.

Departmental Manpower

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will take steps to ensure that his published departmental organisational chart includes the names and responsibilities of all staff paid over £58,200 per annum in his Department and in the non-departmental public bodies and agencies for which he is responsible.

Bob Neill: The coalition Government are committed to improving transparency, including the setting of senior pay. In March 2010, the Review Body on Senior Salaries commented that
	'there seems to us to be insufficient transparency on top-level reward in the public sector'
	(Initial report on Public Sector Senior Remuneration 2010, Cm 7848).
	The coalition programme includes commitments to publish salary information for most of the senior civil service and to publish organograms for the entire organisation. As a first step, the Government published the details 345 senior officials in Departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies in post at 31 March 2010 whose rate of pay was £150,000 or more.
	This was extended to lower levels of the senior civil service (SCS) as part of the organograms that were published last October. Although individualised salary details for the most junior level of the SCS (pay bands 1 and 1A) were not released, the numbers and grades of staff in each of their teams and the total salary costs of that team were published.
	The level of disclosure for senior civil servants is going to be further reviewed prior to the next exercise, in April 2011.
	In addition, the names of the special advisers in post, including each special adviser's pay band, actual salary where this is £58,200 or higher, together with details of the special advisers' pay ranges for 2010-11, were most recently published in the Prime Minister's statement of 28 October 2010,  Official Report, column 18WS.

Departmental Manpower

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in his Department were in the Civil Service redeployment pool on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many of these had been in the redeployment pool for more than six months at that date.

Bob Neill: There were no staff in the Department for Communities and Local Government redeployment pool on 3 March 2011. The Department's redeployment pool, known as the Career Transition Centre, was closed at the end of January 2011 and surplus staff were deployed across the Department.

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much special advisers in his Department claimed in expenses in  (a) 2007-08,  (b) 2008-09 and  (c) 2009-10.

Bob Neill: I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given on 21 July 2008,  Official Report, column 765W and 11 March 2010,  Official Report, column 419W.
	These show that the following expenses were claimed in each year:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2007-08 1,952.88 
			 2008-09 4,407.35 
			 2009-10 1,327.90

Departmental Press

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on newspaper  (a) supplements and  (b) advertorials in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10; and (A) in which publication and (B) for what purpose in each case.

Bob Neill: The Department buys media space through the Central Office of Information. Their records show the following total annual expenditure on purchasing press advertising by the Department:
	2007-08: £3,116,567
	2008-09: £2,898,805
	2009-10: £1,860,579
	Neither the Department nor the Central Office of Information hold records which distinguish between the different types of press advertising space purchased.

Departmental Procurement

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to the public purse was of the  (a) procurement and  (b) outsourcing function of (i) his Department and (ii) each (A) agency and (B) non-departmental public body for which he is responsible in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Bob Neill: The cost of the Department's  (a) procurement function for the last financial year, 2009-10, was £1.39 million. The Department does not have  (b) an outsourcing function.
	Information on the Department's non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	However, I can confirm that the cost of the procurement function in the last financial year 2009-10, in the Planning Inspectorate was £191,695 and in the Housing and Communities Agency was £787,538.

Departmental Video Recordings

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on film production and associated costs for video messages from each Secretary of State in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

Bob Neill: The information requested is as follows:
	 2008-09 costs are:
	Hazel Blears video message for Tiger 11 Regeneration Summit, November 2008-£1,850
	Hazel Blears video message for REACH Programme event, March 2009-£1,808
	Hazel Blears film launching the local government White Paper: "Communities in Control: Real People Real Power", August 2008-£11,790
	This gives a total spend of £15,448.
	 2009-10 costs are:
	John Denham filmed at the Scrutiny Conference, February 2010-£793
	The above costs compare with a zero spend since May 2010.

Departmental Finance

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department and its agencies have provided to  (a) Global Action Plan,  (b) Forum for the Future,  (c) the Green Alliance and  (d) the New Economics Foundation in the last three years; and for what purpose in each case.

Bob Neill: No funding was made by this Department and its agencies to the named organisations in the last three financial years.

Electoral Reform Services

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the monetary value was of contracts his Department placed with Electoral Reform Services in each year since 2005.

Bob Neill: The Department has had no contracts with Electoral Reform Services in any years since 2005.

Energy Performance Certificates

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consideration he gave to the merits of including in the Energy Bill a requirement that  (a) energy performance certificates (EPC) are produced when a property is marketed and  (b) for the EPC to be prominently displayed in property sales literature.

Andrew Stunell: The requirement for an Energy Performance Certificate to be provided at the point of marketing to a prospective buyer or tenant is part of the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007.
	The requirement for the Certificate to be prominently displayed in property sales literature is part of the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007.

External Audit Services

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what expenditure  (a) his Department and  (b) each public body sponsored by his Department incurred on engaging in each of the last three years; and to which service providers such payments were made in each year.

Bob Neill: DCLG has its own internal audit service and does not routinely purchase audit services externally. However over the last three years DCLG engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to provide interim support to internal audit and they were paid as follows:
	
		
			  Fiscal year  £ 
			 2008-09 297,221 
			 2009-10 326,061 
			 2010-11 (1)163,636 
			 Grand total 786,918 
			 (1) Projected to end March 
		
	
	The contract with PwC ends this year.
	External audits are undertaken by the National Audit Office and are reported as a notional cost in the resource accounts as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008-09 427,000 
			 2009-10 447,000 
			 2010-11 (1)420,000 
			 (1) Expected to be 
		
	
	Information on costs incurred by public bodies sponsored by the Department is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Food: Procurement

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects his Department to meet the Government's commitment to source food that meets British or equivalent standards of production.

Bob Neill: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not directly procure food. Catering services are provided via the Department's total facilities management contracts. In the case of DCLG's HQ building, Eland House, this is delivered through Mitie plc.
	The Department works with suppliers, actively promoting DEFRA guidelines that food procured meets British or equivalent standards of production wherever this can be achieved without increasing overall costs,

Freedom of Information

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which public authority holds the archived records of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and at what location the records are held.

Bob Neill: The records of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are currently held by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The records are stored by TNT, the Department's external records storage provider, in their storage facility in West Thurrock.

Government Procurement Card

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies spent on the Government Procurement Card in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and how many transactions each made in each such year.

Bob Neill: Figures for the Department (including those of the Department's arms length bodies using the central programme) and the Department's agencies are as follows:
	
		
			   2008-09  2009-10 
			   Transactions  Value (£)  Transactions  Value (£) 
			 DCLG (Central) 2349 549,983 1623 314,559 
			 Government Office Network 4209 2,248,247 4277 1,973,149 
			 Residential Property tribunal Services/Rent Assessment Panels 625 95,247 873 138,604 
			 Infrastructure Planning Commission 0 0 76 44,260 
			  Agencies: 
			 Planning Inspectorate 1081 154,670 1220 146,539 
			 Fire Service College 437 222,432 387 178,683 
			 Queen Elizabeth 11 Conference Centre 497 65,699 504 87,223

Housing: Regeneration

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much housing market renewal funding was allocated to Stoke-on-Trent in the last three years; what transitional relief funding for housing market renewal will be allocated to Stoke-on-Trent in 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps: The RENEW North Staffordshire Pathfinder, for which Stoke on Trent city council is the accountable body, was allocated £108.2 million of housing market renewal funding in 2008-11. Dedicated funding for the housing market renewal programme ends in March 2011 and with the country facing a record deficit and less money available for top-down investment, we need to find innovative ways to deliver regeneration. This will require an ambitious and creative approach to the new funding sources such as new homes bonus, affordable rent/empty homes and private sector and asset based investment. I have also announced a transition fund of £5 million for growth and housing market renewal areas to retain key capacity to help tackle these issues.
	The new homes bonus, for example, is payable both on new build and on bringing long-term empty homes back into use. Stoke on Trent's provisional new homes bonus allocation for 2011-12 is £1,105,641. There will need to be a much greater emphasis on refurbishment than previously. Where local authorities in former housing market renewal areas wish to develop a transition plan based on this approach, my Department and the Homes and Community Agency will be ready to help.

Local Government Finance

Conor Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what plans he has to review the funding formula for fire authorities; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what plans he has to review the funding formula for local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: The provisional Local Government Finance Settlements for 2011-12 and 2012-13 were announced on 13 December 2010. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2011-12, setting out funding for local authorities, including police authorities and fire and rescue services, was approved by the House of Commons on 9 February 2011. Details of the final settlement for 2011-12 and the provisional settlement for 2012-13 are available at:
	http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1112/grant.htm
	The Local Government Resource Review will consider options to enable councils to retain their locally-raised business rates, and will deliver proposals this year. Such an approach will help set free many local councils from dependency on central Government funding and provide incentives, through the business rates system, for councils to promote economic growth.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what grant spending data for items over £500 has been published by  (a) his Department,  (b) its Executive agencies,  (c) its non-departmental public bodies,  (d) its public corporations and  (e) the Government offices for the Regions since May 2010.

Bob Neill: Since 12 May 2010 DCLG has published all spend data above £500 (including all grants). Data are published on a month by month basis. We also publish grant payments processed by the Government offices on behalf of DCLG.
	We have also published all grant data for 2008-09 and 2009-10.
	Arm's length bodies (including Executive agencies, non-departmental bodies and public corporations) publish all their spend data over £500, including any grant expenditure, on their own websites, except for the Planning Inspectorate and QEII Conference Centre which publish via the DCLG website.

Local Government: Accountancy

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department takes in the event of a local authority's accounts being qualified.

Bob Neill: The qualification of a local authority's financial accounts is a matter for the authority themselves and their auditors.

Local Government: Pay

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received on levels of pay for local authority staff; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: A number of representations have been received on levels of pay for local authority staff from Members of Parliament, leaders of local authorities, local trades union branches and members of the public who were primarily concerned about levels of pay for senior local government employees.
	The level of pay of local authority staff is for each local authority to determine in the light of local circumstances. However, the Government expects local authorities to show restraint particularly when setting of senior pay and for voluntary pay reductions from the very top earners.
	The Government believe that there needs to be greater transparency and local democratic accountability over remuneration given to senior employees in local government. Provisions in the Localism Bill will ensure that in future decisions on such matters are for full council to agree and publish a senior pay policy statement. The Secretary of State will be consulting on guidance, shortly and has made clear his preference that full council vote on all new appointments over £100,000.
	The Government are currently consulting on a Draft Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency, which includes salary disclosure, setting out the government's preference that the threshold for disclosure should be those earning above £58,200.

Non-domestic Rates

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of non-domestic rates that is uncollected in the latest period for which figures are available; what estimate he has made of the total monetary value of outstanding non-domestic rates; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: As at 31 March 2010 local authorities in England reported that they had collected 97.8% of the national non-domestic rates due in respect of 2009-10, leaving 2.2% uncollected at that date. Collection of non-domestic rates continues once the financial year to which they relate has ended so this means that the final collection rate achieved is somewhere between the figures shown here and 100%.
	This information is available in Table 3 of the Statistical Release "Collection rates for council tax and non-domestic rates in England 2009-10" that is available on the Department for Communities and Local Government's website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/localregional/localgovernmentfinance/statistics/counciltax/collectionrates
	At 31 March 2010 local authorities in England reported that a total of £1,117 million of national non-domestic rates was still outstanding. This is only a snapshot of the position because, as mentioned above, collection of non-domestic rates continues once the financial year to which they relate has ended so local authorities are continually working to recover outstanding non-domestic rates.

Opencast Mining

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of land remediation following the closure of open cast mining operations; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: This Department has not carried out an assessment of this type but we would expect mineral planning authorities in England, when granting planning permission for opencast mining, to set site aftercare and restoration conditions. Such conditions are intended to secure the high standard of restoration of the land concerned. Additionally there are a number of post-extraction requirements on operators arising from the licence to operate issued by the UK Coal Authority and, if applicable, from the environmental permit issued by the Environment Agency.

Planning

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings he has had with  (a) English Heritage and  (b) the Council for British Archaeology on proposed changes to the national planning policy framework.

Bob Neill: English Heritage was one of many organisations represented at a conference on the National Planning Policy Framework on 4 March. A meeting has not to date been held with the Council for British Archaeology.

Regional Planning and Development

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he intends to commence work on the strategic environmental assessment required prior to the revocation of regional spatial strategies following the judgment of 22 October 2010 in the case of Cala Homes (South) Limited, and whether he plans to make provision for stakeholders and the wider public to engage in the process consistent with the Government's obligations under the Aarhus Convention.

Bob Neill: I will be making a statement on this matter shortly.

Social Rented Housing: Energy

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) home energy efficiency and  (b) micro-generation schemes have been undertaken by registered social landlords in each of the last five years.

Andrew Stunell: Management of their stock is a matter for individual registered providers of social housing and the information requested is not collected centrally. Information on the numbers of energy efficiency measures present in social housing up to 2008 is included in the English Housing Survey 2008 Housing Stock Report, which can be found at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/ehs2008stockreport

Social Rented Housing: Energy

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effects of reductions in expenditure on  (a) home energy efficiency and  (b) micro-generation schemes on social housing projects.

Andrew Stunell: The Government's approach to supporting energy efficiency and micro-generation is through the introduction of mechanisms such as the Green Deal and the renewable heat incentive which, along with the existing feed-in tariff, are expected to lead to an increase in the amount of investment in energy efficiency and micro-generation in all homes, including social housing. My Department is working with local authorities and registered providers of social housing to ensure that they are well placed to use these mechanisms to maximise investment in their stock.
	Alongside this, while the Government's priority is to deal with the deficit, we have provided £2.1 billion for improvement to social housing through the Decent Homes Programme. The £1.6 billion of this to be allocated to local authorities over the next four years will help make up to 150,000 council homes decent, including improvements to thermal comfort through the installation of modern heating systems and insulation.

Sustainable Development

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will make it his policy to include in proposed regulations under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 a requirement for the Secretary of State  (a) to try to reach agreement on each proposal made under the Act and  (b) to publish details of the steps the Secretary of State took in attempting to reach agreement with the Selector.

Greg Clark: The Government will publish a consultation seeking views on the contents of new regulations to be made under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007, and will make a statement shortly.

Third Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department has taken to support the big society initiative.

Greg Clark: The Department for Communities and Local Government is supporting the big society through the Localism Bill in which we are introducing major reforms to public services and providing new rights for communities. Through these structural reforms, promoting transparency and strengthening local democracy, we are making Government and local councils more responsive to local residents as well as reducing burdens and control from Whitehall. This will free people to take more control of their lives, the places they live and local public services.
	We are also working to remove bureaucratic barriers that hold back local action, and have opened up a 'Barrier Busting' website for communities to identify them. We have also been working with four 'vanguard' communities, which the Prime Minster described as 'training grounds of change', to help local communities build their idea of the big society.

Third Sector

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the list of payments to charities and voluntary groups published in his Department's resource accounts for 2009-10, whether the list included payments to bodies which were not registered charities.

Bob Neill: The list of payments to charities and voluntary groups published in the Department's 2009-10 resource accounts are those made under Section 70 of the Charities Act 2006. The legislation grants the power to pay any charitable benevolent or philanthropic institution and therefore does not only apply to organisations that are registered charities.
	Therefore there will be organisations to whom the department paid a grant under this power which were included in the list in the resource accounts who are not registered charities.

Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made on the winding-up of the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: Good progress is being made in respect of the transfer of Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation to Thurrock borough council. A first step towards this will be the co-location of the corporation with Thurrock council at its Grays offices. This will enable them to work more closely together during the final year of the corporation's operation. This co-location is an important step which will generate a number of benefits, for instance by encouraging the council and corporation to work together more effectively on regeneration and planning; and by promoting the sharing of knowledge and expertise between staff at the corporation and council and thereby strengthening the council's capacity to drive regeneration.
	Preparations for an orderly transition of the corporation's projects and planning functions before 1 April 2012 are underway.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when his Department plans to publish new guidance for local councils on Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Bob Neill: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) on 17 January 2011,  Official Report, column 497W.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether national policy on planning applications for Gypsy and Traveller sites is contained in circular ODPM 01/2006; what plans he has to revoke such guidance; and what consideration he has given to replacing it as a consequence of the abolition of regional spatial strategies.

Bob Neill: Current national planning policy for Gypsy and Traveller sites is set out in Circular 01/2006: "Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites". The Government have announced their intention to withdraw Circular 01/2006. We will replace it with a fair, short, light-touch new policy. This is being done as part of a broader package of reforms, including the abolition of Regional Strategies, to consolidate and streamline planning policy, decentralise the planning system and strengthen the role of elected councils. There will be a full public consultation on our proposed new planning policy for Traveller sites shortly.

Travellers: Finance

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department gave to  (a) Traveller groups and  (b) associated representative bodies providing support or assistance to Traveller groups in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and how much and for what purpose in each case.

Andrew Stunell: The information is as follows:
	2008-09: Nil
	2009-10: The Rural Media Company-£112,815.00-to fund publication of the Travellers Times Friends, Families and Travellers-£132,000-to fund support to Gypsy and Traveller groups

Vacant Land

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what  (a) legislation and  (b) guidance issued by his Department determines responsibility for preventing building on greenfield land when brownfield land is available for development; and whether he has any plans to amend such responsibilities following enactment of the Localism Bill.

Greg Clark: Under the Town and Country Planning Acts, planning decisions are the responsibility of local planning authorities in the first instance, having regard to national planning policy.
	The National Planning Policy Framework will set out the Government's planning for housing policies. A full consultation on the policies within the framework will be issued this summer. The current planning policy position on housing is set out in Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing.

Voluntary Work and Charitable Donations

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has a policy to encourage its employees to  (a) volunteer and  (b) donate via payroll giving.

Bob Neill: The Department does have a policy to encourage employees to volunteer. Staff are entitled to spend up to six days a year volunteering to support charities and other civil society organisations. Our staff volunteering policy meets the recent Government commitment to allow staff across the civil service to volunteer at least one day each year.
	The Department also participates in the 'Give As You Earn' (GAYE) Payroll Giving Scheme which enables employees to make donations to charity direct from their salary. The scheme is administered by the Charity Aid Foundation.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Abandoned Vehicles

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abandoned vehicles were recorded in  (a) Suffolk,  (b) Bedfordshire,  (c) Cambridgeshire,  (d) Essex,  (e) Hertfordshire,  (f) Norfolk and  (g) England in each year since 1997.

Richard Benyon: Figures on abandoned vehicles were reported by local authorities to DEFRA between 2000 and 2004 in the Municipal Waste Management Survey and from 2004 to 2008 via WasteDataFlow, and are available on the DEFRA website at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/wrabanvehicles.htm
	More recent data (up to June 2010) on the number of abandoned vehicles collected by local authorities can be downloaded from the WasteDataFlow website directly at:
	http://www.wastedataflow.co.uk/Register.aspx
	As DEFRA only began compiling figures on abandoned vehicles by way of the Municipal Waste Management Survey in 2000-01, numbers prior to then are not available.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many claims to the Rural Payments Agency for Single Farm Payments are outstanding from 2010; and when she expects such payments to be made.

James Paice: Latest figures show that as at 28 February 2011, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) had made payments totalling £1.435 billion to 95,306 English farmers.
	Processing now continues on 10,000 or so claims where no payment has been made to date and RPA is working to validate these as quickly as possible. Some of these are complex cases involving probate, business partnership changes and domestic issues. It is likely that work on these claims will reveal that some will not be eligible for payment.
	For further details, I refer my hon. Friend to the written statement I made on 4 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 47-48WS, on this issue.

Aviation: Noise

Sam Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will include in the next edition of her Guidance Note on the duties of relevant authorities to have regard to the purposes of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty an increased emphasis on the requirement to ensure tranquillity in respect of noise from aviation.

Richard Benyon: I have no present plans to update the guidance.

Beef: Imports

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the import of  (a) beef and  (b) pork from Brazil.

James Paice: The importation of meat from third countries, including Brazil must be in accordance with harmonised rules laid down in European Union legislation. Imported meat must:
	come from an approved country;
	be accompanied by appropriate animal and public health certification; and
	must come from EU approved plants in the exporting country;
	meat from Brazil must also come from an approved holding.
	All meat imported from third countries must be accompanied by veterinary certification. This must confirm that the meat is derived from animals that have been subjected to a veterinary inspection during the 24 hours prior to slaughter and showed no signs of disease. EU import rules also require that all bovine meat imported from Brazil be deboned and matured, a process which produces an acid change which inactivates any foot and mouth disease virus present.
	All consignments of meat must enter the EU at designated border inspection posts, where they are subject to veterinary inspections. All consignments are subject to documentary and identity checks and at least 20% of consignments are subject to physical checks.
	The importation of pork from Brazil is not permitted.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the reason is for the time taken to publish the response to her Department's consultation on a badger control policy; and when she expects to publish the response.

James Paice: We received a large number of responses to our consultation, which we are considering carefully. This is a difficult and sensitive issue and we need to get it right. We will announce our decision as part of a comprehensive and balanced TB Eradication Programme for England as soon as possible.

Dairy Products

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what estimate she has made of the quantity of  (a) milk and  (b) other dairy produce Government bodies purchased in the last 12 months for which figures are available; by whom such produce is supplied; what the farms of origin are; and what average price was paid per litre of milk in that period;
	(2)  what estimate she has made of the  (a) cost of production for dairy farmers supplying (i) cheese and (ii) milk to the public sector and  (b) the price that they received in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Paice: No estimate has been made of the quantity of milk or other dairy produce purchased by all Government bodies.
	However, DEFRA has previously established the quantity of milk and other dairy produce purchased from January 2010 to January 2011 by its Nobel House, headquarters.
	This purchased 41,600 pints of milk (23,640 litres) in this period. In addition, it purchased 1,040 kg of yoghurt, 1,200 kg of cheese and 205 kg of butter. These products are supplied by Brakes Chilled. The milk is sourced from Yew Tree House Farm in Lancashire. The average price paid per litre of milk is commercially confidential.
	It is not possible, to establish what amounts of milk individual farm businesses supply to public sector organisations and we are therefore similarly unable to make specific estimates of the costs of production or the prices received for dairy farmers supplying the public sector.
	However, DEFRA has estimated the following costs(1) of milk production for 2009-10 using data from the Farm Business Survey in England(2). These estimates are representative of the vast majority of milk produced in England and will include a small proportion of organic production. The average cost of production was around 22.5 pence per litre.
	
		
			  Cost of production in pence per litre  Proportion of milk produced under these costs in 2009-10 (percentage) 
			 Less than 20ppl 22 
			 20ppl to less than 22.5ppl 25 
			 22.5ppl to less than 25ppl 27 
			 More than 25ppl 26 
			  Source: Farm Business Survey, England 2009-10 
		
	
	DEFRA collects statistical data every month on the price received by dairy farmers. The latest available figure is the January 2011 average milk price, which stood at 25.72ppl, 4.26% higher than January 2010. The average milk price for 2010 was 24.66ppl.
	(1) The costs included in this analysis cover fixed and variable costs and imputed charges for unpaid labour and an imputed rent on owned land. Some of the costs are allocated to the dairy enterprise by arithmetic estimation rather than directly from the farm's accounts.
	(2) The Farm Business Survey sample covers businesses with a Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) of at least 0.5, i.e. a size considered sufficient to occupy a farmer for at least half their time.

Dairy Products

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance she has issued to public bodies in England on purchasing milk produced in the UK; and how much of the milk procured for the public sector is labelled with the  (a) country of origin and  (b) name of the supplying farm.

James Paice: Information on the quantity of milk purchased by Government bodies, the suppliers and the name of the supplying farm is not collated centrally.
	However, we are shortly to publish Government Buying Standards for food which will be mandatory for central Government and promoted to the wider public sector. Departments have been advised that they should be able to report, by June this year, baseline data for compliance with these standards.
	Among the requirements of the Government Buying Standards are; that all food procured by Government should, subject to no overall increase in costs, meet British or equivalent standards of production; and in line with the industry principles on country of origin labelling, caterers should be able to indicate the origin of the meat, meat products and dairy products either on the menu or accompanying literature, or at least when the information is requested by the consumer.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department spent on carbon offsetting in each of the last three years; and to which companies payments for carbon offsetting were made in each such year.

Richard Benyon: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker) on 16 February 2011,  Official Report, column 853W.

Departmental Leaseback Arrangements

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assets her Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Richard Benyon: None.

Exmoor National Park

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of visitors to Exmoor National Park in each of the last five years.

Richard Benyon: No specific estimate has been made for each of the last five years. The estimated annual number of visitor days spent in the Exmoor National Park lies somewhere between 1.4 million and 2 million.

Fisheries: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what meetings she has had with representatives of the Northern Ireland fishing industry since her appointment.

Richard Benyon: As UK Fisheries Minister, I met representatives of both the Anglo-North Irish Fish Producers' Organisation (ANIFPO) and the Northern Irish Fish Producers' Organisation (NIFPO), during the negotiations surrounding the setting of fishing opportunities for 2011, at the end of last year.
	This included a visit to Belfast in late October, for a meeting hosted by Michelle Gildernew MP MLA, Northern Ireland's Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, at which a number of local fishermen were also present. I also regularly meet with senior members of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO), including one who specifically represents Northern Irish fishing interests.

Forestry Commission: Manpower

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received from the devolved administrations on planned changes in staffing at the Forestry Commission.

James Paice: It is for the Forestry Commission to decide where its staff should be based after the conclusion of its consultation with staff and the Trade Unions.
	The Scottish Executive wrote to the Secretary of State on this issue in February.

Forestry Commission: Manpower

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on the implications for her Department's budget of planned changes in staffing at the Forestry Commission.

James Paice: There have been no such discussions with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Forestry Commission: Redundancy

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she intends to proceed with the proposed redundancies of Forestry Commission staff based in Edinburgh.

James Paice: The Forestry Commission is currently consulting staff on new organisational structures in response to the 2010 spending review settlement, ft will be for the Forestry Commission to decide where its staff should be based after the conclusion of this consultation with staff and the trade unions.

Forests

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which organisations her Department consulted in developing its policy on the sale of the forest estate in accordance with paragraph 2.4 of the Compact between Government and civil society organisations; what feedback her Department has given to the consultees in accordance with paragraph 2.5 of the Compact; and what assessment she has made of the effect of that policy on local efforts to inspire and encourage social action and to empower communities in accordance with paragraph 2.2 of the Compact.

James Paice: The consultation on the future of the public forest estate has ended, as announced by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), on 17 February. Over 300 organisations, plus all local authorities and over 7,000 private individuals were included in the formal consultation; a list is available on DEFRA's website.
	All responses received prior to cancellation of the consultation will be analysed and considered by the Independent Panel on Forestry. This panel is being established to advise on the future direction of forestry and woodland policy in England, on the role of the Forestry Commission, and on the role of the public forest estate. It will report its findings in the autumn.

Forests: Land

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many acres of forest land the Forestry Commission owns in  (a) West Sussex and  (b) Mid Sussex constituency; and what the location is of each such landholding.

James Paice: The public forest estate is owned by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and placed at the disposal of the Forestry Commissioners under section (3)1 of the Forestry Act 1967.
	The following table lists the woodland in West Sussex that forms part of the public forest estate. None of this is within Mid Sussex constituency.
	
		
			  Grid reference  Wood name  Area (hectares) 
			 SU798119 Marden 394 
			 SU758173 West Harting Down 318 
			 TQ214310 St. Leonard's Forest 244 
			 SU855298 Rogate 129 
			 SU990113 Houghton 233 
			 SU949115 Eartham 260 
			 SU920122 Selhurst 211 
			 SU897146 Charlton 997 
			 SU855298 Rogate 202 
			 TQ276336 Tilgate Forest 149

Labelling

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the regulatory framework governing country of origin labelling.

James Paice: The current EU regulatory framework governing country of origin labelling needs to be improved. This is why we are pressing for clearer origin labelling in negotiations on the new EU Food Information Regulation. We have been successful in extending mandatory origin labelling to all fresh meat with the possibility, subject to a review, of extending origin labelling to other foods. Negotiations are continuing and it is not expected that the regulation will be adopted and published until early 2012.
	In the meantime, the Government welcome the voluntary origin information principles for meat and dairy products developed by industry, which will help ensure that consumers can have confidence about the origin claims being made.

National Parks: Finance

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department has given in grants to the National Parks in 2010-11; how much she has allocated for funding to the National Parks in 2010-11 as a result of the comprehensive spending review; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The grants given to each national park authority in 2010-11 and the grants allocated for 2011-12 are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  £ 
			  National Park  2010 - 11  2011 - 12 
			 Broads 4,229,502 4,002,149 
			 Dartmoor 4,739,642 4,484,867 
			 Exmoor 3,978,580 3,764,715 
			 Lake District(1) 7,171,279 6,549,233 
			 New Forest(2) 4,978,096 3,811,570 
			 Northumberland 3,311,334 3,133,337 
			 North York Moors 5,428,266 5,136,475 
			 Peak District 8,298,814 7,852,720 
			 South Downs(3) 8,540,000 11,373,133 
			 Yorkshire Dales 5,398,563 5,108,369 
			 Total 56,074,076 55,216,567 
			 (1) Lake District grant for 2010-11 includes £0.25 million funding for repairs to flood damaged rights of way network. (2) New Forest grant for 2010-11 includes £0.75 million funding for new offices. (3) South Downs grant for 2010-11 includes £1.25 million funding for new offices and for 2011-12 includes DCLG transfer of £4.475 million for planning responsibilities.

Natural England: Research

Sheryll Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Natural England's approach to and processes for quality assurance of evidence and advice; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Natural England's quality assurance process for the evidence and advice produced by it to her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Non-departmental public bodies, such as Natural England, operate with a degree of independence according to their own particular governance arrangements and are accountable for their own processes, conduct and decisions. Natural England's quality assurance of its evidence and advice is provided primarily by its specialist staff, often working in partnership with external experts or bodies. Overview of the quality of the evidence, and the way that it is used, is provided by Natural England's Executive Director of Science and Evidence, supported by an external Scientific Advisory Committee.
	DEFRA's chief scientific adviser (CSA), Professor Bob Watson, provides an independent challenge to the evidence underpinning policy decisions. It is part of his role to assure himself that policy is informed by high-quality, robust evidence. Where specific issues are brought to the CSA's attention, or where evidence and advice is particularly complex or uncertain, the CSA will assess and give advice on them, to Ministers or senior policy colleagues.
	Professor Watson is commissioning an independent review of evidence and advice provided by Natural England, and its use by DEFRA, in relation to a case study of marine candidate/possible special areas of conservation. Quality assurance processes will also be considered as part of the review.

New Forest: Hunting

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2011,  Official Report, columns 311-2W, on New Forest, what her policy is on whether drag hunting in the New Forest constitutes a public benefit.

James Paice: holding answer 7 March 2011
	Drag hunting in the New Forest enjoys significant local support and participation as well as contributing to economic activity and employment in related enterprises. In this context, it could be seen as being a public benefit. The Forestry Panel will advise the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on all aspects of public benefits when it reports later this year.

Rural Payments Agency: Correspondence

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Rural Payments Agency has targets in place for the time taken to respond to correspondence.

James Paice: The Rural Payments Agency has a published target to reply to correspondence within 15 working days of its receipt.

Rural Payments Agency: Correspondence

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons claimants are not able to communicate with the Rural Payments Agency by telephone.

James Paice: Claimants are able to communicate with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) by telephone.
	The agency provides a number of telephone numbers which its customers may use to contact it These numbers are published on its website and in scheme guidance. The agency includes contact number details on letters sent to individual customers.
	The RPA also provides a number of help lines covering specific areas of its work, details of which are also published on its website.

Sewers

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the proportion of sewers that are properly maintained.

Richard Benyon: Water and sewerage companies have a statutory duty to cleanse and maintain approximately 323,000 km of public sewers in England and Wales which comprise the public sewerage system.
	This equates to less than 50% of the estimated overall length of sewers and drains in England and Wales, the remainder of which are subject to whatever maintenance arrangements their respective owners consider appropriate. No data exists on the state of repair of the private sewerage network.

Sewers

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent steps she has taken to reduce the number of unadopted sewers.

Richard Benyon: The Government have consulted on draft regulations to implement the transfer of all private sewers and lateral drains (linked to the public sewerage system) into the ownership of the water and sewerage companies in England. The regulations are currently being considered in accordance with the Government's principles for better regulation.

Shale Gas

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what meetings have taken place at her Department at  (a) ministerial and  (b) official level to review Environment Agency preparedness for on-shore drilling for shale gas and coal bed methane using hydraulic fracturing.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA officials had informal discussions in January with the Environment Agency on preparedness for on-shore drilling for shale gas and coal bed methane using hydraulic fracturing.
	All onshore oil and gas projects, including shale gas exploration and development, are subject to appropriate environmental controls, including scrutiny by the Environment Agency. They require local planning permission before drilling activities can start.
	DEFRA Ministers have not held meetings to review Environment Agency preparedness on the matter.

Supermarkets: Refrigerators

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will bring forward proposals to encourage supermarkets to increase the number of refrigerated display cabinets that they remanufacture.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA is not proposing to introduce any specific measures to increase the number of refrigerated display cabinets that supermarkets remanufacture.
	However, the UK implementation of the EC Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive encourages the preparation for reuse of these cabinets, and WEEE more widely, as reuse counts towards the achievement of the European Commission's collection and recovery targets. The UK Government are also promoting the preparing for reuse of WEEE by providing financial and other support for the development of a Publicly Available Specification. This provides a process management specification for the reuse of used, and waste, electrical and electronic equipment.

Timber: EU Action

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to make an announcement on proposals for implementation of the EU Timber Regulation.

James Paice: We will discuss and agree the detailed implementing regulations to prevent the first placing of illegally logged timber on the EU market with other member states and the European Commission over the next 18 months. Once agreed, the necessary secondary legislation will be put in place to implement the regulation in the UK. Further details, including our plans for public consultation, will be announced in due course. Under its provisions, the EU timber regulation must be implemented by 3 March 2013.

Timber: Imports

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of imports of illegally-logged timber.

James Paice: We will put in place the necessary legislation to implement the provisions of the EU Timber Regulation in the United Kingdom. The forthcoming Due Diligence Regulations prohibit the first-placing of illegal timber on the EU market, restricting its purchase, possession and sale down the supply chain. This will be complemented by the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation, which requires timber imports from countries which have signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the EU to carry a licence to prove legality. These new legislative measures underline our commitment to eliminate illegal timber from the UK market.

Veterinary Services: Public Expenditure

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many veterinary surgeons of each grade her Department expects to directly employ in each year of the comprehensive spending review period.

James Paice: Veterinary surgeons are currently employed in DEFRA and also the Animal Health Agency, Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
	DEFRA and its agencies are currently considering how to implement its spending review settlement. To live within this smaller budget we know that we will have to reduce the number of staff across our network. However, at this stage, it is not possible to predict how many veterinary surgeons will be directly employed by the Department and its agencies.

Waste Management

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the compatibility of the gasification process for waste with the provisions of European directives on the incineration of waste.

Richard Benyon: Thermal treatment includes both incineration/combustion and other treatments, such as gasification and pyrolysis. However, if the activity involves only thermal treatment in this broader sense (as distinct from incineration/combustion), then it will be subject to the Waste Incineration Directive only 'insofar as the substances resulting from the treatment are subsequently incinerated'. This ensures that the Waste Incineration Directive covers processes such as pyrolysis and gasification, unless their purpose is the manufacture of products with no resulting release of combustion gases.
	Therefore, if a gasification/pyrolysis plant produces a number of products, one or more of which are subsequently burnt, then the Waste Incineration Directive applies to the whole plant. In cases where the products are burnt away from the gasification/pyrolysis plant (remote units), the Waste Incineration Directive will apply both to the plants initially producing, as well as subsequently using, these products.

Water Charges

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will assess the effects of water metering tariffs and charging policies on levels of household income in each income decile of the population.

Richard Benyon: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 28 February 2011,  Official Report, column 68W.

Water Supply: Mutual Societies

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will encourage mutual forms of ownership in the running of water and sewerage supplies; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Maintaining a regulatory system that affords water companies access to appropriate finance at affordable prices is a key priority for the Government. Any water company making such a proposal would have to satisfy Ofwat that it will be able to continue to access the finance it needs to provide water and sewerage services in its appointed area.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan: Christianity

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Afghanistan on the detention and sentencing of Shoaib Said Assadullah.

Alistair Burt: We are working closely with international partners to monitor developments and raise issues on cases concerning the freedom of religion with the Afghan Government.
	We continue to remind the Afghan Government of their duty to abide by their national and international commitments on freedom of religion and belief. During his visit to Afghanistan in January, the UK Attorney-General raised the issue of freedom of religion with the Afghan Attorney-General.

Burma: Asylum

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions his Department has had with the Government of India on the provision of assistance to Rohingya refugees recently arrived in the  (a) Aceh and  (b) Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Alistair Burt: We are deeply concerned over the recent flow of Rohingya people who have fled Burma to escape human rights abuses. At the end of February 2011, following the arrival of refugees in Aceh, our embassy in Jakarta met Indonesian authorities and the International Organisation for Migration where we discussed the process of registering the refugees with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
	We have not discussed the issue of Rohingya refugees with the Government of India bilaterally but we support the European Commission and UN programmes for Rohingya refugees through the UK's core funding to the EU and the UN.

Croatia: EU Enlargement

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of progress on the accession of Croatia to the EU.

David Lidington: Croatia's accession process was assessed in the European Commission's annual progress report published in November 2010, and scrutinised by member states at the EU General Affairs Council in December 2010. The Council Conclusions stated,
	"The Council welcomes Croatia's good overall progress towards meeting the membership criteria. Accession negotiations have reached their final stage and preparations for the drafting of the Accession Treaty have progressed steadily. Conclusion of the negotiations is within reach."
	We fully endorse this assessment.
	We work closely with other EU member states and with the European Commission to encourage and support progress in Croatia's accession process. Croatia has now opened all of the substantive chapters, of which it has closed 28. But Croatia still has work to do, particularly on judicial reform, public administration reform, tackling corruption and organised crime. Full co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is a requirement for the closure of negotiations.
	The Commission published an interim report on Croatia's progress on chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) on 2 March 2011. The Government welcome the report and Croatia's continued engagement on the accession process. The report will be discussed by EU member states over the coming weeks.

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10-days of receipt in January and February 2011.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) supports the Government's prompt payment initiative and makes every effort to pay supplier invoices within five working days.
	The FCO paid 93% and 90.8% of supplier invoices within 10-days of receipt in January 2011 and February 2011 respectively.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department,  (b) its agencies and  (c) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Alistair Burt: The proportion of the seafood procured for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the UK by its contracted supplier is as follows:
	(i) No products are procured that are on the Marine Conservation Society (MSC)'s 'Fish to Avoid List'.
	(ii) 40% of products are on the MCS's list offish to eat of which 30% is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.
	The above data relates to both 2010 and 2011 to date.
	Data for the agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which the FCO is responsible and for overseas Posts is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Security

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reasons persons not employed by Government departments or agencies are issued with passes entitling them to enter his Department's premises.

Alistair Burt: Passes may be issued to those who are required to make frequent visits to specific Government sites, subject to security checks.

European Convention on Human Rights

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department has plans to reform the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in its interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

David Lidington: The European Court of Human Rights not the European Court of Justice is responsible for ensuring compliance with obligations undertaken by the Contracting Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights and has jurisdiction on the interpretation and application of the Convention.
	Fundamental rights are guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and as they result from the constitutional traditions common to the member states also constitute general principles of EU law.
	The Treaty of Lisbon provided for the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (under Article 6(2) Treaty on European Union) and negotiations for the EU's accession are currently ongoing. However, the Government will need to ensure accession will not affect the competences of the Union or the powers of its institutions and will not affect the situation of the EU member states in relation to the Convention, as agreed in Protocol 8 A2 to the Treaty on European Union.

European Parliament

Conor Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 8 February 2011,  Official Report, column 219W, on the European Parliament: location, with which members of the  (a) European Parliament,  (b) European Commission and  (c) Council of Ministers he has discussed the location of the European Parliament; and what was discussed at each meeting.

David Lidington: The Government are committed to reducing inefficient and wasteful spending by the EU and in the coalition agreement have committed to pressing for the European Parliament to have only one seat, in Brussels. I have met with many people with an interest in this issue including ministerial counterparts in other EU member states, European Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament.

Israel: Business Initiatives

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2011,  Official Report, column 498W, on Israel: business initiatives, what funding his Department is providing to support joint business initiatives between Israeli citizens resident in Israel and Palestinian citizens resident in the West Bank.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. Member to my response of 17 February 2011,  Official Report, column 1000W.

Italy: British Nationals Abroad

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the operation legislation in Italy on the legal rights of foreign workers.

David Lidington: I have had reports from our embassy in Rome and Professor David Petrie, the chair of the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy (ALLSI), concerning Article 26 of 'Law 240 of 30 December 2010' enforced on 29 January. Our embassy is following-up with the Italian Government to discuss the implications of the law on the Lettori.

Italy: British Nationals Abroad

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had on the rights of UK citizens teaching in universities in Italy.

David Lidington: UK officials in Rome met Professor David Petrie, Chair of the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy (ALLSI), on 28 February 2011. We are arranging a roundtable for members of ALLSI and the Italian Government. I will also be writing to the European Commissioner for Employment, Laszlo Andor, to bring this issue to his attention.

Libya: British Nationals Abroad

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British nationals who used flights from Libya chartered by his Department have  (a) paid and  (b) not paid for the flight.

Alistair Burt: In an evacuation, the Government will pay for transport out of the affected country if there are no commercial means available. All British nationals who were evacuated from Libya on flights chartered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office did so without charge.

Libya: British Nationals Abroad

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British citizens resident in Libya have contacted his Department in the last three weeks.

Alistair Burt: Over 750 British nationals have contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the last three weeks.

Libya: British Nationals Abroad

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures are being taken by the British Embassy in Tripoli to assist UK nationals on the Libyan/Algerian border.

Alistair Burt: We continue to provide full consular support to British nationals in Algeria. Our embassy in Tripoli suspended operations on 26 February 2011 due to security concerns. Since then our representation has been undertaken by the Turkish embassy in Tripoli. We have concentrated efforts on the Libyan borders with Egypt and Tunisia but our embassy in Algiers continues to provide consular support for British nationals requiring assistance in Algeria.

Libya: British Nationals Abroad

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many UK nationals have been evacuated from Tripoli through  (a) scheduled and  (b) chartered flights arranged by his Department since 15 February 2011.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) organised six flights which departed Tripoli. Around 390 British nationals were evacuated on these flights. It is likely that British nationals left on scheduled flights without formal notification to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during this period. We assisted British nationals who had requested help to leave Libya by facilitating a range of exit routes including arranging seats for British nationals on flights organised by other countries.

Libya: British Nationals Abroad

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost to the public purse has been of chartering aircraft to evacuate UK nationals from Tripoli since 21 February 2011.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) organised six flights which departed Tripoli. The provisional total cost of the flights chartered by the FCO departing from Tripoli is approximately £740,000 but the final total will not be confirmed until we receive final invoices from the airlines.

Libya: British Nationals Abroad

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many scheduled flights with which airlines his Department booked seats for the evacuation of UK nationals from Tripoli in February 2011.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)'s evacuation of British nationals from Tripoli was primarily conducted through chartering civilian and military flights. It is likely that British nationals left on scheduled flights without formal notification to the FCO. We assisted British nationals who had requested help to leave Libya by facilitating a range of exit routes including arranging seats for British nationals on flights organised by other countries.

Libya: Official Visits

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to visit Libya.

Jeremy Browne: I do not currently have any plans to visit Libya.

Libya: Politics and Government

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has made an assessment on the impact of recent events in Libya on the Israeli and Palestinian peace process; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), said on 8 March 2011, the peace process must not become a casualty of uncertainty in the region. Instead, efforts must be redoubled to move the peace process forward and the British Government believes that the parties must recommit themselves to negotiations as soon as possible, to do so on the basis of clear principles with international support, and to strive for a breakthrough this year.
	We want to see a return to negotiations, as soon as possible, on the basis of clear parameters. Clear parameters are important for negotiations to make progress. We have set out our views with France and Germany on what those parameters should be, covering borders, security, Jerusalem and the refugee question. We will continue to work with the US and other key partners to secure progress.

Nigeria: Corruption

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had discussions with the government of Nigeria on Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

Henry Bellingham: Neither the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), nor I have had any discussions with the Government of Nigeria on Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

Nigeria: Corruption

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken to assist Nigeria in tackling internal corruption.

Henry Bellingham: Corruption is one of the biggest obstacles to Nigeria achieving it's full potential. During my recent visit to Nigeria, I raised the issue with a range of interlocutors. I welcomed efforts by federal and state Governments to address corruption; highlighting that tackling corruption is crucial to Nigeria's political and economic development and creating an enabling business environment. But I also stressed that a lot of work remains to be completed to further tackle corruption.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, along with other Government Departments, including the Department for International Development (DFID), are assisting Governments at both levels, as well as with civil society and the private sector on transparency in public finances and good governance. DFID has given technical support to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria's main anti-corruption agency.

Sri Lanka: Politics and Government

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the effect on national reconciliation in Sri Lanka of the creation of high security zones in the north and east of that country.

Alistair Burt: During my visit to Sri Lanka last month I talked to resettled communities about their efforts to recover from the war and rebuild their lives. I am aware that high security zones displace people from their home area and may therefore make it harder for people to return to their normal lives.
	We understand that the Sri Lankan Government intend to reduce the number and size of high security zones and we welcome the relaxation of some of these areas in Jaffna over the past months. Our Department for International Development is contributing a further £3 million grant for demining and clearance of unexploded ordinance to ensure the return of residents to these areas.

Tunisia: British Nationals Abroad

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support his Department has given to British nationals in  (a) Tunisia and  (b) Egypt since 21 February 2011.

Alistair Burt: We have provided a wide range of consular support to British nationals in both Tunisia and Egypt during this period, including assisting their departure from those countries.

Turkey: EU Enlargement

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of progress on the accession of Turkey to the EU.

David Lidington: Turkey's accession process was assessed in the European Commission's annual progress report published in November 2010, and scrutinised by member states at the EU General Affairs Council in December 2010. The Council Conclusions stated,
	"The Council welcomes Turkey's continued commitment to the negotiation process and the political reform agenda. The constitutional reform package is an important step in the right direction as it addresses a number of priorities of the Accession Partnership in the area of judiciary, fundamental rights and public administration. Implementation in line with European standards will be key."
	We fully endorse this assessment.
	We work closely with other EU member states and with the European Commission to encourage and support progress in Turkey's accession process. Turkey has now opened 13 out of 35 accession chapters, of which it has closed one. Turkey is currently working on the reforms necessary to open chapter 8-competition policy. We are encouraging Turkey to accelerate domestic reforms in line with the EU acquis. We support Turkey's engagement in support of the Cyprus settlement process and call for Turkey to implement the Additional Ankara Protocol.

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many admissions to hospital with an alcohol-related diagnosis via accident and emergency departments involving people under the age of 18 years there were in the  (a) East of England Strategic Health Authority area and  (b) Suffolk Primary Care Trust area in each year since 2007-08.

Anne Milton: An estimate of the number of alcohol-related emergency admissions to hospital via accident and emergency that are wholly attributable to alcohol and those that are wholly or partially attributable to alcohol for East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Suffolk Primary Care Trust (PCT) for people aged under 18 for the period 2007-08 to 2009-10 is given in the following table.
	
		
			   2009-10  2008-09  2007-08 
			   Estimated admissions wholly attributable to alcohol  Estimated admissions partially or wholly attributable to alcohol  Estimated admissions wholly attributable to alcohol  Estimated admissions partially or wholly attributable to alcohol  Estimated admissions wholly attributable to alcohol  Estimated admissions partially or wholly attributable to alcohol 
			 NHS East of England 384 730 390 699 535 866 
			 Suffolk PCT 52 91 52 83 55 92 
			  Notes: 1. Estimate of alcohol-related admissions The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO), which uses 48 indicators for alcohol-related illnesses, determining the proportion of a wide range of diseases and injuries that can be partly attributed to alcohol as well as those that are, by definition, wholly attributable to alcohol. Further information on these proportions can be found at: www.nwph.net/nwpho/publications/AlcoholAttributableFractions.pdf The application of the NWPHO methodology was updated in summer 2010 and is now available directly from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). Information about episodes estimated to be alcohol-related may be slightly different from previously published data. 2. Accident and Emergency Admission method Codes 21 and 28 were used: 21: Emergency via A&E, including the casualty department of the provider; 28: Emergency: Other means including patients who arrive via the A&E department of another healthcare provider. 3. SHA/PCT of residence The SHA or PCT containing the patient's normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another SHA/PCT for treatment. 4. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in national health service practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. 5. Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and PCTs in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.

Epilepsy: Death

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 September 2010 , Official Report, columns 458-9W on epilepsy, what information his Department holds on World Health Organisation age-standardised death rates for epilepsy per 100,000 for each of the states in the EU-15.

Paul Burstow: The Department does not hold information on age-standardised death rates for epilepsy for each of the states in the EU-15.

General Practitioners

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals for GP consortia he has received to date from organisations in  (a) Wolverhampton,  (b) the West Midlands and  (c) England; and what criteria he plans to use to assess such proposals.

Simon Burns: The Health and Social Care Bill 2011 will provide for general practitioner (GP) consortia to be established from April 2012, prior to taking on full statutory responsibilities from April 2013. The Department has established a rolling programme of GP consortia pathfinders to test the different elements involved in GP-led commissioning and enable emerging GP consortia to get more rapidly involved in current commissioning decisions.
	Groups of GP practices keen to participate in the pathfinder programme put themselves forward to their strategic health authority (SHA). There are no pathfinder consortia in Wolverhampton and 16 in the West Midlands. In England; there are 177 pathfinders in total.
	SHAs have been responsible for managing the selection process for pathfinders. Although some SHAs have applied certain additional criteria, the expectation has been that all applications to join the programme will be accepted unless they are unable to demonstrate: evidence of strong GP leadership and support; evidence of local authority support; or an ability to deliver on local Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention programmes.

General Practitioners

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had on the funding of GP consortia which cross existing primary care trust boundaries.

Simon Burns: From 2013-14, the NHS Commissioning Board will take over responsibility for commissioning guidelines and the allocation of resources from the Department. It will be for the board to decide how best to allocate resources in a way that supports the principle of securing equivalent access to national health service services relative to the prospective burden of disease and disability.
	During the transition to the board, the Secretary of State has asked the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA), an independent committee comprising general practitioner (GPs), academics and NHS managers, to continue to oversee the formulae for the distribution of NHS resources. ACRA's work programme will include consideration of the allocation of funds to GP consortia. This work programme does not pre-empt any decisions to be made by the NHS Commissioning Board.
	Further detail on the allocations and processes will be announced in due course.

Genito-Urinary Medicine

David Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to consult on the draft of his Department's forthcoming sexual health strategy.

Anne Milton: We intend to work closely with a wide range of stakeholders and experts in the field to develop our new sexual health strategy.

Health Services: East of England

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the cost to the public purse of running and administering the  (a) East of England Strategic Health Authority and  (b) Suffolk Primary Care Trust in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09, (iii) 2009-10 and (iv) 2010-11.

Simon Burns: Administrative and clerical staff costs for East of England Strategic Health Authority and Suffolk Primary Care Trust for the years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 are shown in the following table.
	Figures for 2010-11 are not yet available.
	
		
			  Administrative and clerical staff costs of East of England Strategic Health Authority and Suffolk Primary Care Trust 
			  £000 
			  Organisation  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 NHS East of England 1,554 1,698 2,605 
			 Suffolk Primary Care Trust 5,500 6,406 7,411 
			  Source: Financial returns of East of England Strategic Health Authority and Suffolk Primary Care Trust

Health Services: North West

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of the proposed restructuring of NHS commissioning in  (a) Bolton and  (b) Greater Manchester.

Simon Burns: The estimated costs of the proposed restructuring of national health service commissioning were published in the impact assessment alongside the Health and Social Care Bill 2011.
	The Department has not estimated a regional breakdown of these figures, as these will depend on local decisions.
	The impact assessment is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsLegislation/DH_123583
	A copy has already been placed in the Library.

Health Services: North Yorkshire

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the estimated cost to the public purse is of the review of health services in North Yorkshire;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to ensure GP consortia are involved in the review of health services in North Yorkshire.

Simon Burns: The review of health services in North Yorkshire has been commissioned by NHS Yorkshire and the Humber on behalf of the local health economy. As such, no estimate of the cost to the public purse of this review has been made by the Department. The Department expects NHS Yorkshire and the Humber to ensure general practitioner consortia are fully engaged in this review.

Home Care Services

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what penalties are applied to local authorities for failing to follow the required procedures for tendering domiciliary care contracts;
	(2)  what criteria apply to the award of domiciliary care contracts by local authorities under the EU Directive on public procurement;
	(3)  what procedure is in place for advertising of domiciliary care contracts by local authorities under the EU public procurement directive; and where such advertisements must be placed;
	(4)  what procedure is in place in respect of tendering domiciliary care contracts under the EU public procurement Directive;
	(5)  what arrangements are in place for the tendering of domiciliary care contracts in  (a) County Durham,  (b) Northumbria,  (c) Yorkshire and the Humber and  (d) the North East.

Paul Burstow: It is for individual local authorities to follow European Union procurement guidance for the tendering of domiciliary care contracts. Domiciliary Care is classed as a Part B service of the Procurement Directive. The detailed award criteria set out in that guidance for tendering for these services do not apply to Part B services. However local authorities are expected to follow procedures which provide an outcome to their purchasing requirements that delivers value for money.
	Authorities are required to ensure that any specifications set out in the tender documents are not discriminatory and do not point to particular products. Authorities should not use standards which are inconsistent with wider international standards.

Hospitals: Manpower

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on weekend staffing levels in hospitals; and what response he has made to such representations.

Paul Burstow: The Department does not record separately details of correspondence on weekend staffing levels. The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of primary care trusts in making patients aware of their entitlement to be treated within 18 weeks or to access private treatment; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department does not hold information centrally on the effectiveness of primary care trusts (PCTs) in making patients aware of their entitlement to be treated within 18 weeks or for the national health service to take all reasonable steps to offer a range of alternative providers if this is not possible.
	The right to access services within maximum waiting times remains in the NHS constitution as set out in the NHS Operating Framework 2011-12. Commissioners should ensure that performance does not deteriorate and where possible, improves during 2011-12.
	The 'Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities (Waiting Times) Directions 2010' and the accompanying guidance 'Implementation of the right to access services in the maximum waiting times: guidance to strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and providers' sets out that each PCT must establish a service for the purpose of providing advice and assistance to patients referred for consultant-led assessment or treatment; publish the name and contact details for that service; and take reasonable steps to communicate the name and contact details of that service to any relevant persons for which it is responsible.
	Copies of both documents have already have been placed in the Library.
	The directions are available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_113648.pdf

Human Papilloma Virus: Vaccination

Steve Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects of a vaccination for human papilloma virus 6 and 11 on the incidence of false positive smear tests.

Anne Milton: In 2010, the Department commissioned the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to conduct a cost-effectiveness study on Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination. This study is taking into account new data on the potential protection provided by the HPV vaccines against cancer and non-cancer diseases, including genital warts. This study includes data from two recently published papers that report on the numbers of borderline and mild smears that contained either HPV6 or HPV11(1), and the economic benefit of reducing such smears by eliminating HPV6 and HPV11(2). The cost-effectiveness study for the HPV vaccine, which has not yet been published by the HPA, will support the next procurement exercise for the HPV immunisation programme that is taking place in 2011.
	(1) Lowell-Jones R, Bailey A, Beddows S et al. (2010) Multi-site study of HPV type-specific prevalence in women with cervical cancer, intraepithelial neoplasia and normal cytology, in England.  Br J Cancer 103(2): 209-16:
	www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/20628396
	(2) Chapman R, Soldan K and Jit M (2011) Modelling borderline and mild dysplasia associated with HPV6 and 11 infection.  Vaccine:
	www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/21338682

Leeds General Infirmary: Children

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on the provision of children's services at the Leeds General Infirmary.

Simon Burns: Departmental records show that, since January 2011, it has received 10 representations about the provision of children's services at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI), comprising of one parliamentary question and nine pieces of correspondence.
	All of the representations received relate to the paediatric cardiac unit at the LGI. My hon. Friend may also wish to note that, on 15 February 2011, the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) tabled an early-day motion in support of the Children's Heart Unit at the LGI, which has received support from numerous local hon. Members. On 3 March 2011, my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew) tabled an end of day Adjournment debate about children's heart surgery services in Leeds, which was attended by my hon. Friend.

NHS: Procurement

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effects of using block contracts in the NHS on the Any Willing Provider model of commissioning.

Paul Burstow: Our aim is to create a 'presumption' that all patients will have choice and control over their care and treatment, and choice of any willing provider wherever appropriate.
	The Department has consulted on the development of patient choice in the national health service, including its approach to extending patient choice of 'any willing provider'. The consultation closed on 14 January 2011. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation and we plan to publish the results and associated guidance in the spring. An impact assessment will be published alongside the guidance.
	Any Willing Provider (AWP) allows patients to choose, where appropriate, from a range of providers who are qualified to provide safe, high quality care and treatment-and select the one that best meets their needs.
	It should be for patients, with the advice of their doctor, to choose where they receive treatment. For example, some patients may prefer to be treated in the community; others may prefer a more traditional setting.
	Choice of provider is an important part of choosing a service tailored to an individual's needs. Strict national standards on quality and patient safety must be adhered to. Choice of AWP allows innovative and responsive services to grow, benefiting patients and providers alike.
	Under AWP, commissioners know that a range of safe, good quality and affordable providers are available to which they can refer their patients without the cost and effort of competitive tendering.
	The "Greater Choice and Control" consultation proposed that patient choice of 'any willing provider' would be extended to most NHS services by 2013-14, starting with some community (and possibly some mental health) services during 2011.

NHS: Procurement

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many NHS block contracts were awarded to independent providers  (a) nationally and  (b) in each region in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what the monetary value was of block contracts awarded by the NHS  (a) nationally and  (b) in each region in each of the last five years;
	(3)  how many NHS commissioned block contracts were awarded  (a) nationally and  (b) in each region in each of the last five years;
	(4)  what proportion of NHS commissioned services were delivered through block contracts  (a) nationally and  (b) in each region in each of the last five years;
	(5)  what assessment his Department has made of the effects of using block contracts in NHS commissioning on the diversity of providers of health services.

Simon Burns: The information requested is not held centrally.
	The Department is aware that the use of block contracts can, in some circumstances, be a barrier to entry by new providers and restrict diversity. Although it has not made a formal assessment of their impact, it has for some years been encouraging commissioners to move away from simple block contracts.

NHS: Procurement

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of block contracts were awarded by the NHS to independent providers of  (a) mental health services and  (b) secure services for mentally ill offenders in each of the last five years.

Paul Burstow: The information is not centrally held.

NHS: Procurement

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made on the value for money of block contracts in NHS commissioning; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Department does not hold this information. Primary care trusts have responsibility for ensuring the value for money of the services they commission, including services commissioned through block contracts.

NHS: Procurement

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken in response to the recommendations of the Co-operation and Competition Panel in its report of 16 December 2010 on the commissioning and procurement of secure mental health services by the North West Specialised Commissioning Group.

Paul Burstow: We are considering the recommendations of the panel and we will respond to them very shortly.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to abolish prescription charges in England.

Simon Burns: We have no current plans to abolish prescription charges.
	However, we are continuing to look at options for reforming the current prescription charging arrangements. In particular, we are examining the implications of the introduction of universal credit in relation to those current benefits that entitle the recipient of that benefit to free prescriptions. We are also looking at the implications of state pension age changes. We will, however, explore options for creating a fairer system of prescription charges and exemptions, taking into account the financial context. We will make announcements about how these changes will be implemented in due course.

Primary Care Trusts: Debts

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the future status of primary care trust debt accrued after 1 April 2011.

Simon Burns: Primary care trusts and clusters must ensure that through planning in 2011-12 and 2012-13, all existing legacy issues are dealt with. During this period we expect developing general practitioner consortia to work closely with primary care trusts to ensure that financial control and balance is maintained to prevent primary care trust deficits in those years.
	The detailed financial regime for the new health system is still being developed and part of that development will include the treatment of existing liabilities within the Statement of Financial Position of Primary Care Trusts for the future.

Strokes: Health Services

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will undertake a consultation on stroke care prior to taking any decision on where the functions currently undertaken by stroke networks will be carried out after 2011-12.

Simon Burns: There are currently no plans to undertake a consultation on stroke care. In the reformed national health service as set out in the White Paper 'Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS' and the Health Bill currently subject to the scrutiny of Parliament, the arrangements for providing commissioning support within the NHS, including questions relating to the functions of networks for stroke, as for other services, will be matters for the NHS Commissioning Board and not for the Secretary of State.

Strokes: Health Services

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has plans to make functional electrical stimulation for stroke victims available on the NHS.

Simon Burns: Functional electrical stimulation can be provided on the national health service. It is for primary care trusts locally to decide which services will be commissioned to meet the needs of local populations.

Surgery: Private Sector

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations funded by the NHS have been performed in private hospitals in each primary care trust area in each of the last three years.

Simon Burns: Operations funded by the national health service and performed in private hospitals can currently be contracted for through a number of routes. In the main, providers may be contracted via the Extended Choice Network. Data on the number of operations funded by each primary care trust (PCT) is shown in the following table.
	Providers may otherwise be contracted via independent sector treatment centre contracts agreed under the previous government, local agreements with PCTs or subcontracts between NHS trusts or foundation trusts and private providers. As these contracts are monitored and managed by local commissioners, the information is not held centrally.
	
		
			  NHS  extended choice network data  2007 - 10: Procedures 
			Total 
			  PCT referrer code  PCT  2008  2009  2010 
			 5N1 Leeds PCT 3,152 5,149 7,529 
			 5P1 South East Essex PCT 1,761 2,831 2,646 
			 5F1 Plymouth Teaching PCT 1,039 1,384 1,276 
			 5PC Leicester City PCT 1,341 1,559 1,636 
			 5NX Hull PCT 1,136 1,962 2,553 
			 5P9 West Kent PCT 1,352 3,623 5,884 
			 5PL Worcestershire PCT 873 1,793 4,244 
			 TAN North East Lincolnshire PCT 1,079 1,443 1,644 
			 5QA Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT 1,146 1,754 3,358 
			 5PQ Norfolk PCT 720 664 1,548 
			 5L3 Medway PCT 768 1,010 2,014 
			 TAL Torbay Care Trust 710 1,514 1,575 
			 5PA Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT 874 2,005 2,265 
			 5NA Redbridge PCT 899 1,523 1,595 
			 5N6 Derbyshire County PCT 732 1,054 2,342 
			 5PG Birmingham East and North PCT 477 661 1,106 
			 5QP Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT 756 2,102 3,375 
			 5QQ Devon PCT 741 1,712 1,289 
			 5P7 East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT 1,071 2,558 2,936 
			 5LQ Brighton and Hove City PCT 715 461 397 
			 5M3 Walsall Teaching PCT 345 363 512 
			 5N4 Sheffield PCT 763 2,200 2,605 
			 5PY South West Essex PCT 671 1,688 2,191 
			 5A9 Barnet PCT 268 315 428 
			 5C2 Barking and Dagenham PCT 311 384 444 
			 5P4 West Hertfordshire PCT 697 1,814 391 
			 5P6 West Sussex PCT 546 1,584 2,408 
			 5N7 Derby City PCT 268 240 419 
			 5PW North East Essex PCT 493 2,392 2,740 
			 5PP Cambridgeshire PCT 362 847 1,105 
			 5A4 Havering PCT 258 704 1,443 
			 5JE Barnsley PCT 126 198 1,592 
			 5PM Warwickshire PCT 127 205 658 
			 5PE Dudley PCT 273 810 1,576 
			 TAM Solihull Care Trust 220 510 949 
			 5N9 Lincolnshire PCT 219 1,371 4,723 
			 5PX Mid Essex PCT 599 2,733 3,843 
			 5P8 Hastings and Rother PCT 352 1,034 1,028 
			 5MD Coventry Teaching PCT 61 41 611 
			 5MV Wolverhampton City PCT 236 338 689 
			 5PK South Staffordshire PCT 123 1,469 1,974 
			 5EF North Lincolnshire PCT 111 135 169 
			 5QC Hampshire PCT 159 513 2,142 
			 5CC Blackburn with Darwen PCT 117 535 225 
			 5N3 Wakefield District PCT 225 545 1,225 
			 5A3 South Gloucestershire PCT 55 2 36 
			 5FE Portsmouth City Teaching PCT 78 70 72 
			 5QD Buckinghamshire PCT 41 178 1,227 
			 5PR Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT 77 65 104 
			 5KL Sunderland Teaching PCT 20 124 200 
			 5P3 East and North Hertfordshire PCT 515 3,452 1,369 
			 5C5 Newham PCT 94 268 348 
			 5N2 Kirklees PCT 232 998 1,416 
			 5H8 Rotherham PCT 58 125 310 
			 5NF North Lancashire PCT 76 676 1,246 
			 5QJ Bristol PCT 47 3 72 
			 5ET Bassetlaw PCT 63 147 684 
			 5J6 Calderdale PCT 238 942 1,134 
			 5P5 Surrey PCT 415 3,560 6,318 
			 5L1 Southampton City PCT 101 202 269 
			 5K6 Harrow PCT 91 510 722 
			 5J2 Warrington PCT 17 142 88 
			 5NC Waltham Forest PCT 136 485 563 
			 5NH East Lancashire PCT 84 930 1,750 
			 5PT Suffolk PCT 53 206 436 
			 TAK Bexley Care Trust 17 16 237 
			 5GC Luton PCT 103 362 430 
			 5NM Halton and St Helens PCT 10 1,821 2,227 
			 5NV North Yorkshire and York PCT 29 439 2,141 
			 5PF Sandwell PCT 31 106 300 
			 5PV West Essex PCT 378 1,631 1,804 
			 5NK Wirral PCT 9 665 1,053 
			 5N5 Doncaster PCT 326 718 539 
			 5P2 Bedfordshire PCT 58 257 959 
			 5M1 South Birmingham PCT 17 111 505 
			 5A8 Greenwich Teaching PCT 8 31 384 
			 5HP Blackpool PCT 19 144 344 
			 5NL Liverpool PCT 6 67 193 
			 5PH North Staffordshire PCT 7 108 102 
			 5PJ Stoke on Trent PCT 14 102 66 
			 5NE Cumbria PCT 24 175 266 
			 5KF Gateshead PCT 5 44 95 
			 5MX Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT 8 13 68 
			 5NP Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT 8 502 288 
			 5CN Herefordshire PCT 20 115 667 
			 5N8 Nottinghamshire County PCT 4 1,639 3,352 
			 5ND County Durham PCT 5 135 448 
			 5NN Western Cheshire PCT 5 102 108 
			 5A7 Bromley PCT 9 73 700 
			 5D7 Newcastle PCT 4 168 707 
			 5J4 Knowsley PCT 5 283 408 
			 5K5 Brent Teaching PCT 19 63 224 
			 5K9 Croydon PCT 30 409 1,293 
			 5KG South Tyneside PCT 5 22 139 
			 5M2 Shropshire County PCT 24 70 255 
			 5NR Trafford PCT 17 60 299 
			 5NW East Riding of Yorkshire PCT 215 1,131 1,898 
			 5NY Bradford and Airedale PCT 44 5,542 8,259 
			 5QH Gloucestershire PCT 108 772 1,991 
			 5C1 Enfield PCT 6 6 219 
			 5C4 Tower Hamlets PCX 6 16 233 
			 5M7 Sutton and Merton PCT 17 164 256 
			 5M8 North Somerset PCT 1 - 16 
			 5NQ Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT 4 79 1,061 
			 5NT Manchester PCT 12 160 345 
			 5PD Northamptonshire PCT 724 2,853 4,660 
			 5PN Peterborough PCT 4 1,133 1,709 
			 5QL Somerset PCT 6 76 485 
			 5CQ Milton Keynes PCT 5 319 2,151 
			 5D8 North Tyneside PCT 1 29 764 
			 5F5 Salford PCT 22 382 899 
			 5F7 Stockport PCT 10 132 171 
			 5FL Bath and North East Somerset PCT 5 12 468 
			 5HY Hounslow PCT 1 2 30 
			 5K8 Islington PCT - 4 23 
			 5LC Westminster PCT 2 8 21 
			 5LG Wandsworth 2 5 21 
			 5LH Tameside and Glossop PCT 2 44 210 
			 5M6 Richmond and Twickenham PCT 2 14 24 
			 5NG Central Lancashire PCT 43 1,549 2,622 
			 5NJ Sefton PCT 2 278 386 
			 5QE Oxfordshire PCT 2 41 337 
			 5QF Berkshire West 39 396 2,070 
			 5QG Berkshire East PCT 1 20 506 
			 5QR Redcar and Cleveland PCT 2 866 1,397 
			 5QT Isle of Wight NHS PCT 1 2 9 
			 5A5 Kingston 12 250 325 
			 5AT Hillingdon PCT 6 17 155 
			 5C3 City and Hackney Teaching PCT 5 9 76 
			 5C9 Haringey Teaching 1 9 144 
			 5D9 Hartlepool - 75 170 
			 5E1 North Tees 1 495 1,453 
			 5EM Nottingham City PCT - 1,101 1,543 
			 5H1 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT 4 8 12 
			 5HG Ashton, Leigh and Wigan 7 722 1,405 
			 5HQ Bolton 1 78 2,489 
			 5HX Ealing PCT 4 25 50 
			 5J5 Oldham PCT - 154 1,482 
			 5J9 Darlington PCT 1 32 542 
			 5JX Bury PCT 10 88 406 
			 5K3 Swindon PCT - 23 936 
			 5K7 Camden 1 1 7 
			 5KM Middlesbrough - 838 1,564 
			 5LA Kensington and Chelsea PCT - 4 6 
			 5LD Lambeth - 28 79 
			 5LE Southwark PCT - 7 40 
			 5LF Lewisham 1 9 143 
			 5MK Telford and Wrekin 23 163 185 
			 TAP Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus - - 1,428 
			 5QV Hertfordshire PCT - - 4,926 
			 5AN North East Lincolnshire PCT - - - 
			 RJN East Cheshire PCT - 2 - 
			 5QK Wiltshire 2 75 2,087 
			 5QM Dorset - 118 571 
			 5QN Bournemouth and Poole Teaching 1 210 473 
			 TAC Northumberland Care Trust 1 17 652 
			  Grand total 34,357 103,859 182,857

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Social Mobility

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the effects of income inequality on social mobility.

Nicholas Clegg: This Government are committed to a Britain where social mobility is unlocked; where everyone, regardless of background, has the chance to rise as high as their talents and ambition allow them.
	The Government's views on the relationship between inequality and social mobility will be set out in the social mobility strategy due to be published later this month.

Social Mobility

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps his Department takes to measure social mobility.

Nicholas Clegg: This Government are committed to a Britain where social mobility is unlocked; where everyone, regardless of background, has the chance to rise as high as their talents and ambition allow them.
	The Government are currently developing 'leading indicators' to improve our understanding of progress in improving social mobility. More detail will be announced in the Government's social mobility strategy due to be published later this month.

TREASURY

Corporation Tax: Reforms

David Ward: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the net effect on the public purse of changes to corporate branch taxation proposed in the HM Revenue and Customs paper on corporation tax reform of 29 November 2010; and what assessment he has made of the likely effect on levels of corporation tax avoidance of implementation of such reforms.

David Gauke: The Taxation of Foreign Branches measure, as set out in draft legislation in December, was estimated to have a steady state cost of £100 million a year by the end of the scorecard period, 2015-16.
	More detailed figures will be made available at Budget 2011 when the policy is finalised.
	This change will contribute to the Government's aim to have the most competitive corporate tax system in the G20 by helping to attract and retain businesses.
	The Government will ensure there are anti-avoidance provisions to protect the UK against abuse of these rules, equivalent to those that apply to foreign subsidiaries. The change is intended to remove taxation on genuine economic activity abroad and will not be available for those artificially diverting their UK profits through branch structures.

Arts: Economic Situation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the potential role of the arts and creative industries in the Government's strategy for economic recovery  (a) nationally and  (b) in the Brighton and Hove area; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: The Government's economic policy objective is to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries.
	The Government have launched the growth review, a rolling programme to last the whole Parliament, with a first report by Budget 2011. This will be a fundamental assessment of what each part of Government are doing to provide the conditions for private sector success and address the barriers faced by industry.
	It will initially focus on two elements: (i) structural reform priorities that can benefit the whole economy and (ii) removing barriers in sectors where there are clear opportunities for growth and where Government can make a difference. This includes an examination of the digital and creative industries, among others.

Capital Gains Tax: Second Homes

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue foregone as a result of the avoidance of capital gains tax on second homes in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Gauke: No such estimate has been made.

Corporation Tax

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses in each  (a) local authority,  (b) parliamentary constituency and  (c) region will be affected by the reduction in the main rate of corporation tax in 2011-12.

David Gauke: The information is not available. In total approximately 920,000 companies will benefit from the reductions in the main and small profits rate of corporation tax announced at the Budget. By 2014-15 the net impact of the CT measures announced in the Budget is a cost to the Exchequer of £1,300 million.

Corporation Tax

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on an average business in each  (a) local authority,  (b) parliamentary constituency and  (c) region of reducing the main rate of corporation tax by one per cent. in 2011-12.

David Gauke: The information is not available. In total approximately 920,000 companies will benefit from the reductions in the main and small profits rate of corporation tax (CT) announced at the Budget. By 2014-15 the net impact of the CT measures announced in the Budget is a cost to the Exchequer of £1,300 million.

Corporation Tax

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many businesses in each  (a) local authority,  (b) parliamentary constituency and  (c) region will be affected by the change in the small profits rate of corporation tax in 2011-12;
	(2)  if he will estimate the effect on an average business in each  (a) local authority,  (b) parliamentary constituency and  (c) region of the change in the small profits rate of corporation tax in 2011-12.

David Gauke: Around 850,000 companies in the UK pay the small profits rate of corporation tax. In total, approximately 920,000 companies will benefit from the reductions in the main and small profits rate of corporation tax (CT) announced at the Budget. By 2014-15 the net impact of the CT measures announced in the Budget is a cost to the Exchequer of £1,300.

Corporation Tax

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an estimate of the degree of losses  (a) offset and  (b) not offset by businesses trading in the UK in reducing their liabilities to corporation tax in each of the last four financial years.

David Gauke: HMRC publish statistics on trading losses from previous years offset against the current year's trading profits, and trading losses offset against other income for industrial and commercial and financial sector companies. This information is regularly updated and published in Table 11.2, on the HMRC National Statistics website. The latest update is available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/corporate_tax/table11_2.pdf

Corporation Tax

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the proportion of profits paid in corporation tax after losses offset have been taken into account by  (a) large companies and  (b) small and medium-sized enterprises trading in the UK in the last three financial years.

David Gauke: HMRC publish statistics on gross taxable profits, trading losses from previous years offset against the current year's trading profits, and trading losses offset against other income for industrial and commercial, and financial sector companies. This information is regularly updated and published in Table 11.2, on the HMRC National Statistics website. The latest update is available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/corporate_tax/table11_2.pdf

Corporation Tax

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effect of the projected revenue accruing from corporation tax in the next financial year of losses not yet offset by businesses trading in the UK.

David Gauke: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), and I have asked the OBR to reply.
	 Letter from  Robert Chote, dated March 2011:
	As Chair of the Budget Responsibility Committee of the Office for Budget Responsibility I have been asked to reply to your recent question.
	The information that you have requested has not previously been published by the OBR. In line with our release policy, the OBR aims to meet ongoing requests for supplementary forecast information where this will improve the quality of public debate on the public finances. Our release policy is available on our website at:
	http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/d/release_policy.pdf
	Where the OBR publishes supplementary material, releases will be made in an orderly manner that promotes public confidence and gives equal access to information. The next scheduled release date for the publication of supplementary forecast information is 22 March 2011. Given that this is a day before the Budget, our intention is to include this information in the supplementary data published with the "Economic and fiscal outlook" on 23 March.

Debts: Developing Countries

Sarah Newton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent consideration he has given to extending the provisions of the Developing Countries (Debt Relief) Act 2010.

Justine Greening: The Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010 and the Act came into force on 8 June 2010. The legislation means that UK courts of law can no longer be used to pursue excessive claims against some of the poorest countries on their historic debts, ensuring that resources are available to tackle poverty. The sunset clause attached to this legislation means that the law will expire on 7 June 2011. The Government are reviewing whether or not to extend the Act.

Departmental Food

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the proportion of the seafood procured for  (a) his Department,  (b) its agencies and  (c) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible that (i) was on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to avoid and (ii) complied with sustainability standards indicated by inclusion in either the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish to eat or by the list of fish species certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in (A) 2010 and (B) 2011 to date.

Justine Greening: Catering facilities are supplied in the Chancellor's building through a sub contractor to Treasury's PFI provider. The caterer has a policy in place not to purchase species on the current Marine Conservation Society's list and works closely with its own suppliers to achieve this.
	In addition, they adhere to the guidance from both the Marine Conservation Society and the Marine Stewardship Council in relation to 'fish to eat' and 'fish to avoid'.
	In both 2010 and 2011 to date the catering provider has been 100% compliant with these standards.

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons he has not implemented the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman on compensation levels for Equitable Life policyholders.

Mark Hoban: The Government have announced that they accept all the Parliamentary Ombudsman's findings of maladministration in their entirety; they are now in the process establishing a payment scheme that is swift, transparent and fair, in line with the Ombudsman's recommendations.
	In her report, the Parliamentary Ombudsman recommended that the aim of the scheme should be
	"to put those people who suffered a relative loss back into the position that they would have been in had maladministration not occurred".
	She also recognised that the public interest is a relevant consideration and that it is appropriate to
	"consider the potential impact on the public purse"
	of any payment.
	The Parliamentary Ombudsman wrote to the co-chairs and secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Justice for Equitable Life Policyholders in December last year stating, in reference to the Government's decisions on this payments scheme, that
	"I cannot say that those decisions are incompatible with the recommendations in my report".

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the evidential basis was for his calculation of the funding to be made available to Equitable Life policyholders.

Mark Hoban: Sir John Chadwick and his actuarial advisers spent over a year carrying out detailed analysis and gathering information in order to be able to provide the first bottom up estimates of relative losses suffered by policyholders.
	As a result of detailed actuarial analysis, the Government announced that the relative losses suffered by policyholders amount to £4.1 billion. As part of the spending review, the Government also announced that, after considering the Government's spending priorities and the potential impact on the public purse, they would make in the region of £1.5 billion available for the payment scheme.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what steps he plans to take to introduce  (a) a fuel duty stabiliser and  (b) a rebate for remote rural areas in (i) North Yorkshire and (ii) other parts of the UK; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether he has made an assessment of the economic effects of differences in levels of fuel duty between the UK and other EU states; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  if he will reverse his decision to increase the rate of fuel duty on 1 April 2011.

Justine Greening: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 18 January 2011,  Official Report, column 753W, to the hon. Member for South Down (Ms Ritchie), the answer given on 2 February 2011,  Official Report, column 837W, to the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), and the answer given on 1 November 2010,  Official Report, column 665W, to the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith).
	The Government are planning to formally apply to the European Commission to implement a 5p per litre rural fuel duty rebate pilot scheme covering all islands in the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Northern Isles, the islands in the Clyde and the Isles of Scilly.

Financial Services: Foreign Companies

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether he proposes to apply restrictions to European-based independent financial advisors operating in the UK following implementation of the outcomes of the retail distribution review;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the financial effects on UK-based financial product providers of business conducted by commission-based European independent financial adviser services operating in the UK after 1 January 2013.

Mark Hoban: The retail distribution review (RDR) is the responsibility of the Financial Services Authority, an independent body.
	As is the case now, EU based financial advisory firms will be able to passport into the UK after the RDR has come into force, through either setting up a branch here or by providing remote cross-border services. If a financial adviser from another member state sets up a branch in the UK, the RDR conduct of business rules will apply to it, including the disclosure and adviser charging rules. If it passports without setting up a branch, then its home member state conduct of business rules will apply instead-but a firm will not be permitted to operate on a cross-border services basis in the UK if it is doing so for the express purpose of evading RDR standards.

Government: Assets

Nick Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the rate of return on the Government's asset holdings in  (a) British Waterways,  (b) the Dartford Crossing,  (c) the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency,  (d) High Speed 1,  (e) the Land Registry,  (f) the Met Office,  (g) NATS,  (h) NHS Professionals,  (i) the Oil and Pipelines Agency Government Pipeline and Storage System,  (j) Ordnance Survey,  (k) Public Forest Estate England,  (l) Public Sector Spectrum Holdings,  (m) the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre,  (n) the Royal Mint,  (o) the Student Loans Portfolio,  (p) the Tote,  (q) trust ports,  (r) Urenco,  (s) the Royal Mail,  (t) the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectra and  (u) other public sector parts of the spectrum suitable for mobile communication purposes in the latest period for which figures are available; and what estimate he has made of the revenue that would be raised from the sale of each such asset.

Danny Alexander: The following table sets out Return on Net Assets (RONA) where known or appropriate. RONA has been calculated as operating profit over net operating assets at the end of the year in question.
	In November 2010 Government announced they were selling the right to operate its first High Speed Railway (High Speed 1) for £2.1 billion. We are unable to state the revenue that would be raised from any sale of other assets listed as this information is commercially confidential.
	
		
			  Asset  RONA (percentage) 
			 British Waterways 1.0 
			 Dartford Crossing(1) 5.1 
			 Defence Storage and Distribution Agency(2) n/a 
			 High Speed 1 9.2 
			 Land Registry (35.8) 
			 Met Office 4.3 
			 NATS 17.0 
			 NHS Professionals (55.0) 
			 Oil and Pipelines Agency Government Pipeline and Storage System(3) n/a 
			 Ordnance Survey 23.0 
			 Public Forest Estate England (2.8) 
			 Public Sector Spectrum Holdings(4) n/a 
			 Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre 9.5 
			 Royal Mint 15.4 
			 Student Loans Portfolio(5) n/a 
			 Tote 14.2 
			 Port of Dover 11.4 (2008) 
			 URENCO 16.6 (2008) 
			 Royal Mail 8.1 
			 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectra(6) n/a 
			 (1) The net asset value includes the crossings themselves (bridge and tunnels), land, approach roads, toll booths and related buildings. (2 )Defence Storage and Distribution Agency, now brought back within the Ministry of Defence Joint Supply Chain, does not have a separate balance sheet or trading accounts therefore it is not possible to calculate a return on net assets. (3) The Oil and Pipelines Agency is a management company. The Government Pipeline Supply Service sits within the Ministry of Defence within Defence Equipment and Supply and does not prepare separate accounts. (4) It is not possible to calculate a rate of return for Public Sector Spectrum Holdings as there is no income currently associated with these. (5 )We do not calculate a Return on Net Assets on the student loan portfolio. (6) The current rate of return for 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectra is close to zero.  Note: Figures for FY 2009 unless stated.

Income Tax

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effect of lowering the threshold at which the higher rate of income tax becomes payable on the weekly income of a person earning  (a) £42,5000,  (b) £43,000 and  (c) £43,500 in 2011-12.

David Gauke: The June 2010 Budget announced a £1,000 increase in the income tax personal allowance for those aged under 65 to £7,475, with real terms gains focused on basic rate taxpayers through a reduction in the basic rate limit. This affects the higher rate threshold, which is the sum of the personal allowance and basic rate limit.
	The resulting personal allowance, basic rate limit and higher rate thresholds for 2011-12 are £820 above, £2,400 below and £1,580 below the planned levels the Government inherited. The national insurance upper earnings and profits limits, which are aligned with the higher rate threshold, were also reduced by £30 per week.
	The following table compares weekly income tax and national insurance contributions due in 2011-12 with and without these June 2010 Budget changes to the personal allowance and higher rate threshold for individuals with earnings of  (a) £42,500,  (b) £43,000 and  (c) £43,500.
	
		
			  £ 
			   Weekly 
			  Earnings (annual)  Earnings  Change in income  t ax  Change in NIC  Change in  i ncome  t ax and NIC 
			 £42,500 817.31 -3.06 -0.03 -3.09 
			 £43,000 826.92 -1.13 -0.99 -2.13 
			 £43,500 836.54 +0.79 -1.95 -1.17 
		
	
	The table is based on an individual aged under 65 with employment income only and paying employee national insurance contributions (not contracted out).

Members: Correspondence

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West of 8 November 2010 concerning Blantyre and South Lanarkshire Credit Union.

Mark Hoban: My officials have asked the hon. Member's office for copy as the Treasury has no record of having received the correspondence referred to.

Members: Correspondence

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North of 21 January 2010 on fuel prices.

Justine Greening: I wrote to all hon. Members on 10 February to set out the Government's overall position on fuel duty. This letter was in response to any outstanding correspondence that hon. Members may have raised.

Public Expenditure

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal measures he plans to introduce to reduce levels of waste to landfill over the comprehensive spending review period.

Justine Greening: In the June 2010 Budget, the Government announced that the standard rate of landfill tax would increase by £8 per tonne each year up to and including 2014, and that the rate would not fall below £80 per tonne from 2014 to 2020. All new fiscal measures are announced at Budget.

Public Sector: Redundancy

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the  (a) number and  (b) proportion of public sector employees who are women who will be made redundant from public services in 2011-12.

Danny Alexander: The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published, as part of the 'Economic and Fiscal Outlook' on 29 November 2010, projections for general Government employment to 2015-16, which can be found at:
	http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/d/econ_fiscal_outlook_291110.pdf
	The OBR has not produced a breakdown by gender, or an estimate of redundancies as part of its forecast.
	On 20 October 2010 the Treasury published an overview of the impact of the spending review on men and women, people from ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. However it will be for individual employers to determine the exact workforce implications of their settlements.

Revenue and Customs: Leave

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the three most common reasons were for staff absence in each HM Revenue and Customs business stream in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: The following tables provides the three most common reasons for staff absence in each HM Revenue and Customs business stream in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  Year ended 31 December 2010 
			   Reason 1  Reason 2  Reason 3 
			 Benefits and Credits Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Business Tax Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Respiratory System excl Acute Resp Tract 
			 Corporate Services Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Enforcements Compliance Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Personal Tax Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Unknown-Grouping Not Found Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
		
	
	
		
			  Year ended 31 December 2009 
			   Reason 1  Reason 2  Reason 3 
			 Benefits and Credits Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Mental and Behavioural excl Stress Related 
			 Business Tax Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Respiratory System excl Acute Resp Tract 
			 Corporate Services Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Enforcement and Compliance Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Personal Tax Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Unknown-Grouping Not Found Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
		
	
	
		
			  Year ended 31 December 2008 
			   Reason 1  Reason 2  Reason 3 
			 Benefits and Credits Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Business Tax Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Respiratory System excl Acute Resp Tract 
			 Corporate Services Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Enforcement and Compliance Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Persona) Tax Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Unknown-Grouping Not Found Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
		
	
	
		
			  Year ended 31 December 2007 
			   Reason 1  Reason 2  Reason 3 
			 Benefits and Credits Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Circulatory System Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related 
			 Business Tax Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Respiratory System excl Acute Resp Tract 
			 Corporate Services Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Respiratory System excl Acute Resp Tract 
			 Enforcement and Compliance Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Respiratory System excl Acute Resp Tract 
			 Personal Tax Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Diseases of the Digestive System 
			 Unknown-Grouping Not Found Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infections Respiratory System excl Acute Resp Tract 
		
	
	
		
			  Year ended 31 December 2006 
			   Reason 1  Reason 2  Reason 3 
			 Benefits and Credits Neoplasms Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infections Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 
			 Business Tax Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Not assigned Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 
			 Corporate Services Not assigned Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue 
			 Enforcement and Compliance Not assigned Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue 
			 Personal Tax Not assigned Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related Mental and Behavioural excl Stress Related 
			 Unknown-Grouping Not Found Not assigned Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infections Mental and Behavioural-Stress Related 
			  Notes: 1. Staff absence is given as sickness absence (paid time off for holidays and public duties etc. are referred to as annual and special leave respectively). 2. There have been structural changes within HMRC over the period covered by the table. Data which could not be attributed to a particular business stream has been recorded as 'unknown'. The two former Departments did not move to a single IT system until November 2006 and that accounts for the relatively high number of unknowns in that year. 3. The numbers are actual days taken and not the full time equivalent. 4. The staff sickness absence reasons are ranked on the number of days taken by that absence.

Taxation: Foreign Companies

Mark Reckless: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses moved their headquarters for tax purposes away from the UK in each of the last four year for which figures are available.

David Gauke: Businesses may move their headquarters for a combination of reasons, including tax, and can restructure in different ways with different tax consequences, depending on the facts in each case. One form of restructuring involves businesses formerly headed by a UK tax resident company creating a new parent company that is claimed to be tax resident elsewhere. Businesses are not required to inform HMRC of this change, but on the basis of research undertaken by HMRC, we believe the numbers are as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2007-08 1 
			 2008-09 10 
			 2009-10 7 
			 2010-11 4

VAT: Registration

Steve Brine: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effects on small and medium-sized enterprises of the time taken by HM Revenue and Customs to process value added tax registration applications;
	(2)  what assistance HM Revenue and Customs provides to owners of small and medium-sized businesses who have experienced delays in the processing of applications for VAT registration.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) aims to issue VAT registration numbers as quickly as possible, while protecting the VAT system from fraud. It is necessary to balance the speed of registration against the need to risk assess applications and carry out necessary checks to safeguard against fraud.
	HMRC's target is to decide 70% of applications within 10 days. Average performance for the period from April 2010 to January 2011 was 65%. However, monthly performance from August onwards has been ahead of target, with performance in December and January being 77.2% and 79.9% respectively.
	HMRC recognises that where an application is selected for in-depth checks, these are currently taking longer to carry out than it would wish. The Department is looking at how it can improve performance in this area.
	If a business is experiencing problems because of a delay in completing checks on its application, it should contact the Registration Team in Cardiff on 02920 325001.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Arms Trade: Exports

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills for which countries arms export licences have been revoked as a result of his Department's review of export licences announced on 18 February 2011; how many  (a) individual and  (b) open licences were revoked in respect of each country; and what the date of revocation was in each case.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 March 2011
	As at 3 pm on 3 March 2011 the following export licences have been revoked under this review:
	 Tunisia
	One Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) was revoked on 27 January and Tunisia was removed as a permitted destination from one Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) on 28 January.
	 Egypt
	36 SIELs were revoked between 7 February and 11 February and Egypt was removed as a permitted destination from eight OIELs between 10 February and 1 March.
	 Libya
	62 SIELs were revoked between 18 February and 3 March and Libya was removed as a permitted destination from nine OIELs on 23 February.
	 Bahrain
	23 SIELs were revoked on 18 February and Bahrain was removed as a permitted destination from 16 OIELs between 18 February and 2 March.
	The review is ongoing as we continue to monitor how the situation develops in this region.

Arts

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential role for the arts and creative industries within local enterprise partnerships (LEPs)  (a) nationally and  (b) in the Brighton and Hove area; what arrangements will be made for industries to be represented within LEPs; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: Local enterprise partnerships are developed from the bottom up and as such it is for them to decide what their priorities for action should be. In forming their boards we would expect partnerships to ensure their business members reflected key sectors in their areas.

Businesses: Government Assistance

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to support  (a) existing small businesses and  (b) to local business start-ups.

Mark Prisk: Business support is currently delivered via the regional development agencies through the Business Link regional advisory service and:
	www.businesslink.gov.uk
	Government recently announced reforms to the way information, guidance and advice to small and start-up businesses is provided, with more focus on improving small business performance and growth, and a greater emphasis on further and better private sector provision. The 'Bigger, Better Business' document sets out the plans in detail, it can be found on the BIS website at:
	www.bis.gov.uk
	searching under publications. These include an online hub for people wanting to start up.

Businesses: Government Assistance

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what support his Department offers to assist start-up companies in the manufacturing sector.

Mark Prisk: A range of business support is currently delivered via the Regional Development Agencies through the Business Link regional advisory service and:
	www.businesslink.gov.uk
	targeted at start-ups and the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) at:
	www.mas.bis.gov.uk
	to help manufacturing businesses improve productivity and effectiveness.
	Government recently announced reforms to the way information, guidance and advice to small and start-up businesses is provided, with more focus on improving small business performance and growth. The 'Bigger, Better Business' document sets out the plans in detail, it can be found on the BIS website at:
	www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/enterprise/docs/b/11-515-bigger-better-business-helping-small-firms

Departmental Leaseback Arrangements

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assets his Department has sold and leased back over the last 12 months; what the sale price was of each asset so sold; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leasing back each such asset over the period of the lease.

Edward Davey: The Department has not sold and leased back any building assets in the last 12 months.

Departmental Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether all new contracts his Department has tendered over £10,000 have been published with associated tender documents on the Contracts Finder website since its inception.

Edward Davey: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published five sets of tender documents from a total of seven tenders issued since September 2010. The remaining two sets are being prepared for publication.
	BIS has awarded three contracts subject to publication. The three contracts are being prepared for publication.
	This Department receives its information and communication technology (ICT) provision via a private finance initiative (PFI) contract which is not subject to publication requirements.

Environment Protection

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of remanufacturing to achieving a low carbon economy.

Mark Prisk: Remanufacturing has an important role to play in achieving a low carbon economy. Reuse of components and remanufacture of products offers a promising way to meet growing demand for energy intensive goods whilst ensuring carbon emissions are reduced to acceptable levels.
	This Department, in partnership with the Department of Energy and Climate Change, is currently carrying out a review of greenhouse gas abatement potential in energy intensive industries, in light of the move to a low carbon economy. In particular, with the support of industry and academic experts, we are considering the potential for greater material efficiency, including remanufacture and reuse, in key sectors such as steel, aluminium and plastics.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to make the operations of the Export Credits Guarantee Department more transparent and accountable; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: holding answer 8 March 2011
	On accountability, the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) is a Department of State. Its powers are derived from statute: the Export Guarantees and Investment Act 1991, as amended by the Industry and Exports (Financial Support) Act 2009 (the Act). These powers may be exercised only with the consent of HM Treasury. Through its Secretary of State, ECGD is accountable to Parliament for all its activities. From time to time Parliament conducts enquiries that address ECGD's operations.
	On transparency, ECGD fulfils the Government's commitment to transparency. ECGD publishes details of its operations, including export transactions it has supported, in its annual review and resource accounts and on its website. The entitlement to confidentiality, either for individuals or entities, is set by the law of confidence, and the basis for balancing openness and confidentiality by government and public authorities has been established by Parliament through the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations. ECGD operates within these frameworks.

Green Investment Bank: Costs

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the likely cost to the public purse of salaries for  (a) staff and  (b) board members of the Green Investment Bank; and what estimate he has made of the administrative costs of the bank's operation.

Mark Prisk: The Government are committed to publishing details of the governance arrangements and the business and operating model of the new institution by the end of May 2011.

Green Investment Bank: Finance

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what arrangements he plans to put in place to underwrite the Green Investment Bank.

Mark Prisk: The Government are committed to establishing the governance arrangements for the new institution by the end of May 2011 when a detailed announcement will be made.

Green Investment Bank: Manpower

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the likely number of employees at the Green Investment Bank in its first year of operation.

Mark Prisk: Decisions about the staffing levels required for the bank will be taken in due course, when the precise nature of the GIB is clearer. However, we are not envisaging an institution employing a large number of staff.

Green Investment Bank: Public Appointments

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what arrangements he plans to put in place to determine appointments to the board of the Green Investment Bank.

Mark Prisk: The governance arrangements for the Green Investment Bank (GIB) will depend on its final design, which we are currently working on and testing for effectiveness, affordability and transparency. We plan to make a detailed announcement by the end of May.
	We expect to appoint staff to the GIB in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice on Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies, and this Department's structural reform plan.

Intellectual Property: Reform

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had on changes to legislation governing intellectual property.

Edward Davey: The Secretary of State has for Business, Innovation and Skills regular discussions about the subject, both with his ministerial team in this Department, with colleagues in other Departments, and other Governments. The subject also comes up frequently in contacts with business and other organisations with an interest in intellectual property.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with representatives of the further and higher education sectors on the setting of local skills strategies and the involvement of local enterprise partnerships in this process.

John Hayes: Further and higher education institutions are being encouraged to work together so that they can engage with their local enterprise partnership to ensure alignment between the economic development priorities and the skills provision available locally. This will include colleges consulting local enterprise partnerships, as well as other employer led bodies, local authorities and Jobcentre plus, on their business plans and how public funding can be aligned so that it contributes to local economic and community demand. In line with our commitment to reduce bureaucracy, there is no Government requirement for local skills strategies rather Government are getting out of the way and enabling local partners to develop the arrangements which meet their needs.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department has issued guidance to prospective local enterprise partnerships regarding the inclusion of further and higher education representatives on their executive boards.

Mark Prisk: As set out in the White Paper on Local Growth the Government will normally expect to see business representatives form half the board, with a prominent business leader in the chair. Partnerships will want to work closely with other key economic stakeholders including further and higher education representatives but it is for partnerships to decide whether this involves providing them with a seat on their board.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what account his Department's approval process for local enterprise partnerships takes of the capacity of applicants to reflect the diversity of the geographic areas which they cover.

Mark Prisk: As set out in the White Paper on Local Growth the Government will normally expect to see business representatives form half the board, with a prominent business leader in the chair. We would want to see these board members drawn from small enterprises through to large businesses, and representing the key sectors in the area.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: Buckinghamshire

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to ensure that Buckinghamshire is included in a local enterprise partnership; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: Buckinghamshire's original proposal for a local enterprise partnership did not meet all the Government's expectations as set out in the Local Growth White Paper. The partnership was therefore asked to reconsider their proposal against these expectations and resubmit when they were met. The Government will be willing to discuss the partnership's proposed approach as this is developed.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: Pay

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what salary scales apply to staff in local enterprise partnerships; and how many staff working for a local enterprise partnership are paid an annual salary in excess of £50,000.

Mark Prisk: Local enterprise partnerships are voluntary arrangements between their respective members and are not an arm of Government. Government do not provide any funding to partnerships for their day-to-day running costs and it is therefore for partnerships to fund their staffing costs and at a level they see fit.

Medicine: Education

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on the effects of planned changes to the student finance regime on those undertaking medical degrees.

David Willetts: The Department of Health (DoH), and professional bodies, including the British Medical Association, have made representations to the Department about the impact of the proposed changes to the funding regime for higher education and student support for medical students. We will continue to work with DoH and others to ensure that the interests of those taking medical degrees are taken into account.

Motor Vehicles: Industry

Neil Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the availability of  (a) training and  (b) skills in the automotive electronics sector; and if he will make a statement.

John Hayes: SEMTA is the Sector Skills Council for the automotive and engineering sector. SEMTA works with employers to identify skills needs and seeks to improve the match between the supply and demand for technical skills. An assessment of the skills and training requirements for the industry is available through SEMTA's strategic action plans.

Office of Fair Trading: Complaints

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2011,  Official Report, column 960W, on the Office of Fair Trading: complaints, how many of the 985 total complaints made to the Office of Fair Trading were consumer complaints.

Edward Davey: Of the 985 total number of complaints about debt management companies made to the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) Enquiries and Reporting Centre between 2005-11, 796 complaints were received from consumers.

Overseas Companies: Libya

Stephen Metcalfe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will assess the effects of recent unrest in Libya on the finances and cash flow of UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) doing business in the region; and if he will assess the merits of offering short-term financial support to these SMEs.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 8 March 2011
	It is still too early to assess what impact the current situation in Libya will have on UK trade. UK exports to Libya in 2010 were £377 million but it is not possible to tell what proportion involved small or medium sized enterprises.
	Companies are strongly advised in all instances to take out trade credit insurance and to protect themselves against political risk. Those companies which did so and have lost financially as a result of the Libyan unrest are able to seek appropriate compensation.
	We will continue keep the situation under review and would urge businesses to put in place crisis management plans. Advice is available from the Government website:
	www.businesslink.gov.uk

Overseas Students: EU Nationals

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2011,  Official Report, column 600W, on overseas students: EU nationals, how many  (a) penalties were charged and  (b) other actions were taken in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: holding answer 7 March 2011
	Students from the European Union (EU) are entitled to receive the same student support as home students in respect of tuition fees. The first main cohort of EU students were due to start repaying in April 2010.
	Where borrowers have returned overseas and have not responded, a default schedule is drawn up and the account put into arrears. A default letter is sent immediately asking for repayment of the default balance. This step allows court action to follow if necessary.
	To date, no penalties have been charged to borrowers. As of 30 April 2010, 1,100 EU borrowers were in arrears (10% of EU borrowers). In 2009, the SLC successfully raised nine judgments against EU borrowers. The SLC enforced some in Scottish courts and some in other EU countries. This group of borrowers were those who had left their courses and who came into repayment earlier than the first main cohort. We cannot break the information down further as it could compromise the confidentiality of individuals.
	It is too early to say how successful these processes will be since the full cycle has yet to be run. Nonetheless, we continue to work with the SLC to develop the most robust and cost-effective methods for collection as possible. This applies equally to UK students who notify the SLC that they are moving abroad.

Overseas Students: Loans

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  how many non-EU overseas students have not made scheduled student loan repayments in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many students from European Union member states other than the UK have not made scheduled repayments to the Student Loans Company in each of the last five years.

David Willetts: Students from non-EU countries are not generally eligible for support. However, European economic area (EEA) migrant workers and certain family members, children of Swiss nationals and children of Turkish workers may be eligible. Such students are entitled to apply for the full student support package provided that they satisfy specific residence conditions. Information which separately identifies these borrowers from English borrowers is not available centrally.
	European Union (EU) nationals are generally eligible for tuition fee support only, provided that they have been ordinarily resident in the EEA or Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of their course. EU nationals have been eligible to apply for tuition fee loans since they were introduced in the 2006/07 academic year.
	The number of EU borrowers who have taken out tuition fee loans only and have not made scheduled repayments to the Student Loans Company is shown table 1(iii) of the 'Income Contingent Repayments by Repayment cohort and tax year 2000/01 to 2008/09 inclusive (provisional)'. These official statistics are accessible at:
	http://www.slc.co.uk/pdf/SLCOSP032010.pdf
	The relevant categories are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  EU borrowers studying in England who took up a tuition fee loan and are liable to repay as at 30 April 2010 
			   Number of EU borrowers (percentage of the repayment cohort total) 
			  Repayment status  Known to be overseas, above the earnings threshold for that country and has fallen into arrears  Known to be overseas, has not provided details of income and is now considered to be in arrears  Total 
			 Repayment cohort
			 2007 (1)- (1)- (1)- 
			 2008 100 (3%) 400 (21%) 2,100 (100%) 
			 
			 All cohorts with at least one tax year process 100 (3%) 400 (21%) 2,100 (100%) 
			 2009 (1)- 500 (18%) 2,800 (100%) 
			 2010 (1)- (1)- 6,100 (100%) 
			 
			 Cohorts with no tax year processed as yet (1)- 500 (6%) 8,900 (100%) 
			 
			 All ICR borrowers who have become liable to repay 100 (1%) 1,000 (9%) 11,000 (100%) 
			 (1) nil or negligible  Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 100  Source: Student Loans Company

Patents

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the relative position of the UK in international comparator tables on the number of patents granted per million of population.

Edward Davey: The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) publishes worldwide patent application and grant statistics every year, according to the information it receives from patent offices around the world. Although it has previously published comparator tables on the number of patents granted per million of population, it has not done so for recent years, and in this year's publication it notes that patent offices do not consistently report the origin of patents granted.
	WIPO does publish figures for patent applications filed per million of population and comparisons can be made for recent years up to 2007, in which the UK's position has been consistently within the top 10.
	Several points should be borne in mind in making such comparisons. First, patents do not cover all areas of industrial and commercial endeavour, and so patent filings will reflect a country's economic structure. Some innovations are more likely to be monetised through other types of intellectual property, such as designs, trade marks, copyright, know how, and plant breeders rights. And there are some specific exceptions from patent protection under most national laws. Secondly, individual patents are not equal in value, which can depend on market forces and how well the patent has been drafted to stand up against challenge. Studies have shown that patent value is skewed so that a small percentage of patents overall turn out to have a very high value compared with the remainder. Thirdly, an applicant may choose not to patent in a particular market if there are no significant competitors. So the absence of a patent does not necessarily mean that no products are being sold.

Patents: EU Action

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  if he will assess the effects on the  (a) economy,  (b) businesses and  (c) UK competitiveness of (i) participation and (ii) non-participation in the proposed new EU patent system; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effects on  (a) economic growth,  (b) UK competitiveness,  (c) levels of foreign direct investment and  (d) other aspects of the UK economy of (i) participation in the proposed new EU patent system and (ii) continuing participation in the Europe Patent Office system for granting EU-wide patents; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the average cost per patent to UK businesses of using  (a) the proposed new EU patent system and  (b) the European Patent Office system for granting EU-wide patents; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: The UK is strongly committed to an EU patent, or a unitary patent, that delivers real benefits for businesses and the European economy. The proposed unitary patent will offer an additional choice to businesses wishing to obtain patent protection covering the majority of the EU market. Estimates of the savings to business and economic impact are difficult to make as they depend on the arrangements that are finally agreed. But a unitary patent should allow businesses to save the costs of filing translations in order to validate their patent in the different countries concerned. Compared with a typical European patent under the current system, there could be savings of between £10,000 and £20,000 per patent on translations alone. For UK businesses currently taking out around 2,000 European patents per year this could represent a saving of £20-40 million a year. Other savings should be possible from simplified administration and enforcement of patents in Europe; the proposals are not sufficiently advanced to allow quantitative assessment.
	Specific estimates for the effects of the proposed EU patent arrangements, or the existing European Patent Office (EPO) system on economic growth or foreign direct investment are hard to make, because the impacts of the intellectual property system are closely bound up with other regulatory and market factors. However, there have been a number of studies which show the role of aspects of the single European market in UK economic growth.
	The Government recently published an assessment (BIS Economics paper 11) of likely additional national income in the UK if trade and competition in Europe were as integrated as it is in the US. If barriers in the EU were reduced to the point at which trade was as easy as between US states (which, unlike the EU, have one patent system), by 2020 UK national income would be 7% higher than if barriers remain unchanged.
	Emerging results from UK Trade and Investment's ongoing research programme show that intellectual property (IP) is important for foreign direct investment. About one third of inward investors to the UK cite IP as an important factor in their decisions to invest. Differences in IP systems can impose costs. These are particularly hard for young innovative firms which, under current arrangements, have to defend their intellectual property rights under national systems even if they have an EPO patent.

Postal Boxes: Northamptonshire

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many Royal Mail post boxes there are in  (a) the borough of Kettering,  (b) Northamptonshire,  (c) England and  (d) the UK.

Edward Davey: holding answer 7 March 2011
	There are some 115,000 post boxes in the UK.
	The Department does not hold any further breakdowns of post box numbers as this is an operational matter for Royal Mail. I have therefore asked the chief executive of Royal Mail, Moya Greene, to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Postal Boxes: Northamptonshire

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what information Royal Mail holds on the  (a) geographical location of and  (b) Royal monogram borne by each post box in the Borough of Kettering.

Edward Davey: holding answer 7 March 2011
	Post boxes are an operational matter for Royal Mail. I have therefore asked the chief executive of Royal Mail, Moya Greene, to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Regional Development Agencies: Assets

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects to announce the outcome of the transfer of regional development agency assets.

Mark Prisk: The Government anticipates the systematic disposal of the Regional Development Agency (RDA) assets and liabilities will begin by April. Each RDA has submitted a detailed assets and liabilities plan and these are currently being scrutinised by Government. Information will be made available in due course, once in principle decisions have been made on appropriate methods of disposal for particular types of assets.

Regional Government

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government prior to making the announcement on the creation of his Department's new regional offices.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 16 February 2011
	The proposals for ongoing functions have been developed as part of the Government's arrangements for the closure of the Government offices for the regions (and the closure of the regional development agencies). These arrangements were developed jointly by all the Government Departments with continuing functions.

Regional Growth Fund: Yorkshire and the Humber

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many bids to the Regional Growth Fund have been made from  (a) the Sheffield City region and  (b) Yorkshire and the Humber; and what the total monetary value of such bids is.

Mark Prisk: 464 bids have been received in Round 1 of Regional Growth Fund(RGF). Of these, 21 bids (with a total value of Regional Growth Fund (RGF) request for £223 million) have been received from the Sheffield City region area and 56.5 bids (with a total value of RGF request for £405 million) from Yorkshire and the Humber region. A summary of bids received in Round 1 of the RGF is available on the BIS website:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/RGF

Students: Fees and Charges

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of students who will apply for deferred places at universities for 2012; and when he expects tuition fees for such courses to be known.

David Willetts: Statistics on deferred entry to higher education are available via the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Final end of year figures for 2010 show that 487,329 applicants from all domiciles accepted a place at a UK institution; 33,472 of these have deferred entry to 2011.
	Limited information is held on the extent of deferred entry to 2012 in the current application cycle. Applicants can make up to five choices on their application form and this can include courses which start in 2011 or 2012.
	As of 21 February 2011, 604,705 people had applied for courses in the current application cycle, 18,711 of these applied for at least one course beginning one year or more after September 2011. At the equivalent point in the previous cycle, 587,857 people had applied, 28,075 of these applied for at least one course beginning one year or more after September 2010. In the 2011 application cycle the main deadline for universities and colleges to guarantee consideration of applications for those domiciled in the UK and EU was 15 January 2011.
	The new support arrangements we are introducing from the 2012/13 academic year will apply to all students starting university in that year, including those who have deferred entry. When the new arrangements were announced, UCAS informed deferred entry applicants that had applied prior to 4 November 2010 about this by email. The email informed applicants of the implications of the new finance arrangements and advised them to check the BIS website for further information and contact individual institutions to discuss individual circumstances.
	English institutions wishing to charge more than £6,000 per year will need first to have their plans for sustaining or improving access and student retention approved by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). OFFA will publish approved plans (access agreements) by 11 July 2011 and institutions will then be able to publish their tuition charges.
	The tuition fee arrangements for devolved Administrations have still to be determined. The Welsh Assembly will vote on tuition fee changes before the elections on 5 May. Tuition fees for students applying to study at institutions in Scotland and Northern Ireland will be determined by the new Administrations after the elections on 5 May 2011.
	UCAS will publish verified tuition fees information on a single date in July.

Technology: Greater London

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of organisations involved in the East London Tech City development.

Mark Prisk: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills attended a meeting which the Prime Minister had with Eric Schmidt of Google on 24 January. In addition, the Minister for Universities and Science, the right hon. Member for Havant (Mr Willetts) and officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) have engaged with a number of companies interested in investing in the development. UKTI and BIS officials also attend monthly project meetings at No 10.

Vinyl Acetate

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to provide support for British manufacturers of vinyl acetate.

Mark Prisk: The Government have no plans to provide support for British manufacturers of vinyl acetate.

Vinyl Acetate

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the number of skilled workers employed in the production of vinyl acetate in the UK.

Mark Prisk: This Department does not collect such information.

Yorkshire Forward: Assets

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what options he is considering for disposal of the assets and liabilities of Yorkshire Forward.

Mark Prisk: All regional development agencies (RDAs), including Yorkshire Forward, submitted detailed assets and liabilities plans to this Department on 31 January. These plans are currently being scrutinised and assets will be considered on a case by case basis. As we reach these decisions, I anticipate that the results will be made public as soon as possible.
	The general principles upon which decisions on the disposal of RDA assets and liabilities will be made have already been set out in the Local Growth White Paper and repeated in a statement sent to the libraries of the House on 10 February 2010 and which can be found at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/economic-development/englands-regional-development-agencies/assets/statement-on-rda-assets-and-liabilities